SDF Nadesco
by gmgurp666
Summary: Primarily a retelling of the Robotech storyline with a few elements of Nadesco thrown in to liven things up.
1. Chapter 1: Launch Day

SDF Nadesco Chapter 1: Launch Day

It was finally launch day. For ten years the resources  
of an entire world had been focused on reaching this  
day. The Robotech Defense Forces had been turning  
out personnel at a fevered pace for years, but they  
finally had enough to make a descent fighting force. And  
now they had a ship to crew.

The SDF-1 was a major leap forward for all aspects of  
humanity. Technologically it was hundreds of years  
more advanced than earths best minds could ever hope  
to achieve. Socially it had united a world at war with itself.  
Morally the brave young crew provided a standard for  
others to aspire to.

When all was said and done, Roy had to admit it was a  
good day to be a member of the RDF. Now if only he didn't  
have to go out there and give a play by play to a bunch of  
civvies. He had nothing against them, but what he wouldn't  
give to be up there flying formation with the rest of his  
squadron. But command had decided to keep the Skulls on  
the ground for this one, which left him walking to the mic.

Lisa Hayes was not quiet as green as most of the crew, but  
not by much. She had been in the second graduating class at  
the academy. This had given her some time to get experience  
with the kind of duties she would have to perform. She had  
bounced all over the globe training in the most hectic command  
centers she could get transfered to. Now she was the only person  
qualified to hold the second seat of the first flying fortress in  
man's history.

Coming onto the bridge she noted the absence of the captain  
before taking her station and finally saying hello to her best friend  
and academy roommate Claudia,"I see the captain still isn't here yet."

Claudia grinned,"I hear the brass threw him a going away party  
last night. They probably stayed up all night telling war stories."

The two women laughed and continued to chat as Captain Henry  
Gloval rode in the senator's car on their way to the space fortress.  
He was waving nonchalantly out the window at the crowd they  
passed. He really hated hangovers. The night before had not ended  
until sometime after four in the morning. At least that was the last  
time he looked a clock. He and the rest of the brass had sat around  
telling old war stories. They had lost count after the twelfth bottle to  
come around empty, but by that they had started taking passed out  
colleagues to the various sleeping areas.

Now he was headed to his command, hangover intact.

Half a world away reality convulsed, as two gigantic ships materialized  
out of a fold maneuver. They were scouts, meant to proceed the main  
fleet, they had jumped right into orbit over this strange blue planet.  
Their sensors reached past the horizon, hunting the prey they had spent  
so long looking for.

Touching the outer skin of the SDF-1 with the searching energy was  
enough to awaken the long sleeping programs Zor had left there. The  
ships systems activated, bringing the main gun on line. The energy  
coalesced between the huge bow sections as particle accelerators came  
to full power. The beam unleashed itself first upon the island before it,  
then on the ocean after that. The massive energies boiled millions of gallons  
of sea water chasing around the globe until they finally burst forth and  
streaked toward the sky. The scout ships had no warning as the particle  
beam slammed into one of them. The energies released utterly devastated  
the target in line with the beam and stripped away the armor on the other.  
One ship exploded, setting the other off as a large secondary explosion.

Bretai, commander of the Zentradi forces sent to find Zor and bring him back,  
could finally relax. They had found the ship after all this time, the destruction  
of his scouts confirmed it's location beyond any doubt. As the first images came  
in he could hardly believe his eyes,"Thats Zor's battleship, but what's happened  
to it?"

Exidore said,"It appears to have been completely remodeled."

Bretai was hardly concerned with the exchange of words taking place with his  
agitant. He ordered another ship down to the planet to retake the lost ship from  
it's redesigners.

The RDF scrambled, all pilots running to their veritechs at full speed. The combat  
order cut into many other activities, leaving quiet a few planes needing immediate  
refit. Skull squadron, the pride of the fleet, was ready and waiting when the call  
came. They launched, prepared to meet any threat head on.

Or so they thought.

The hundreds of pods dropping toward Macross city were no match for the wall of  
fire racing toward them, but a few managed to get to weapons range and the  
tide started to turn. The defenders were limited in their high altitude combat options  
so after the first pass they had to come back around and that was when the second  
wave of pods came at their backs. The high altitude interceptors were wiped out  
quickly, leaving the rest of the pods to be dealt with below the cloud cover.

Lisa Hayes was coordinating the battle from her station when she received an urgent  
warning of imminent collision,"VF 102, pull out. Your diving right at us."

The voice that came back was young, but that was nothing new to her."Tell me  
something I don't know. The controls won't respond."

She replied,"Have you tried switching to configuration B?"

"B what's that?"

"You don't know? Impossible." She could not believe a RDF pilot didn't know,"Listen,  
pull down the control marked B on the left side of your console."

"Okay." The warning vanished from her board, so she went back to the battle. She  
did make a mental note to ask Roy what he was doing with a pilot that didn't know  
how to use his veritech.

Roy was busy enough at the moment trying to stay alive. Some pods were dropping  
into the city but still more fell from the sky toward the aerial defenders. The Destroid  
Corp would just have to deal with the few that reached the ground.

He then received an urgent warning to stay clear of a lane directly above the fortress.  
They would be taking off as soon as the antigrav units were charged. He thought they  
had to be mad to try using those untested things, but he was not consulted in the end.  
A few more minutes passed with him racking up even more kills, then the giant ship lifted.  
The destroids on it's deck were brought into play against the aerial foes and he checked  
his squadron roster. Ricks plane was still functional, but stationary on the ground. He  
requested permission to return to the island. It was granted, after a short explanation  
about the untrained pilot. All the while the SDF-1 continued to rise smoothly. Then the  
entire ship lurched to one side. The earth based materials making up the outer hull were  
never meant to take the strain of the antigrav units. The hull buckled and split, releasing  
the AG units to float up until their power finally ran down. This left the giant fortress with  
no lift, causing it to plummet back toward the planet.

The touchdown was nothing that could be described as controlled, smashing supports  
and trucks unlucky enough to be under it. The Fortress itself suffered only minimal damage  
and was quickly ready for another attempt, this time with the man made rocket boosters  
added to the bottom of the ship. The ship lifted off again, once more to attain orbit and  
hopefully draw the enemy's fire away from the civilian population.

Exiting the atmosphere they switched to lateral thrusters, maneuvering for a docking with  
the space based assets. Roy was just relieved that he had found Rick in one piece, he had  
been running around in batteloid mode doing his best to stay alive. The kid learned quick.  
He opened the channel,"Hey Rick, how you doing little brother?"

"Not too bad Roy, after I figured out the controls. I'm just getting used to the idea that  
this used to be a jet. So now what?"

"Well, first you need to get up here. The space fortress is leaving and we need to catch  
up."

The batteloid switched first to guardian and increased thrust to maximum before changing  
to fighter mode and falling in behind skull one. They headed into orbit and landed in the ship.

The SDF-1 was readying for docking when a massive laser attack raked the area around  
them. Their companion vessels were reduced to burning rubble in a matter of seconds,  
leaving the fortress untouched. They decided to try a fold jump, heading down into the  
atmosphere to try to fool their attackers. The fold drive activated at two thousand feet  
above Macross Island. The energy from the fold system was designed to dissipate harmlessly  
into space, but inside the gravity well of Earth the energy formed a resonating bubble,  
trapping everything within twenty-five hundred feet of the epicenter. The world within the  
bubble went white and disappeared.

* * *

Well here it is, SDF Nadesco. I tried not to repeat cannon to much in this chapter, just pointing out some of the important moments and attitudes. Hope you enjoy it and review.

Thanks to my wife for proofing it for me.


	2. Chapter 2: The Long Way

SDF Nadesco Chapter 2: The Long Way

On the edge of the solar system a ball of light  
appeared from nothingness, growing until it was  
five kilometers across, shining like a small star.  
Then shapes resolved within the orb. The bottom  
tenth was filled with a mass of stone surrounded  
by churning water. In the center of the globe of  
energy a giant ship fell toward the land mass. As  
the light faded smaller shapes emerged from the  
glow. Veritechs and pods streaked in all directions.  
As the glow faded all was plunged into darkness.

Then the flare of small engines unevenly illuminated  
the scene, revealing the massive shape of the SDF-1  
hurtling toward the frozen mass of Macross Island.  
The bridge was utter chaos as the crew tried desperately  
to reorient themselves.

"Switch to emergence power." Lisa said and the red light  
was replaced with a normal white.

"Whats our position Vanessa?" the captain inquired.

"We appear to be in space, but there is a large mass  
directly beneath us." the radar tech reported.

"Our target was the moon, so that's your large object."

"It's too small to be the moon, I'll put it up on the monitor  
sir." The image of Macross Island, covered in a thick layer  
of ice and hurtling closer, came up on the screen.

Gloval turned,"Lisa fire the engines, slow our descent."

"Aye sir." She tapped several controls, with no response,  
"Sir, the engines won't respond."

"Sound collision." and the captain jumped to grab hold of  
the safety grips positioned around the walls and ceiling.  
The sirens for an imminent collision sounded and all around  
the ship personnel ran to secure themselves as best they could.

Outside the Veritech pilots watched in horror as the SDF-1  
slammed into the surface of Macross City and skidded sideways.  
It leveled over half of the city, everything in it's path that the  
enemy had not destroyed was flattened and ground under the  
giant spacecraft. Then it slammed into the side of the crater  
created by the ships original crash ten years ago.

Then all was still except for the few veritechs coasting slowly  
toward the space fortress."This is SDF-1 control calling all RDF  
forces currently outside the ship. Report status and disposition  
of enemy."

"This is orange lead, we lost two before the fold, but now the  
enemy seem to be disabled, guess they can't take the cold." The  
other reports were the same, with the only variable being the  
number of losses.

The radio squealed and hissed static,"This is shelter four, is  
anybody out there? We can't get the pressure door open."  
The bridge crew looked at each other in horror.

Lisa switched frequency,"This is SDF-1 control to civilian shelter.  
Do not attempt to open the pressure doors. We have experienced  
a malfunction of our fold drive and the entire island has been  
transported into space. Just sit tight and we will have a transport  
out to you as soon as possible."

There was a short pause,"What do you mean space? How did  
you get us lost in space?" there was another voice in the  
background,"Hey we managed to override the controls."

Lisa screamed into her headset,"DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!!" She  
was cut off by the sound of air rushing past the microphone.  
Sammy ran out of the bridge, holding her mouth. Lisa switched  
to the control channel for the shelters and spoke into her headset  
again,"Attention all civilians of Macross Island. I have disabled the  
power to the locking mechanism of all the pressure doors. Please  
do not attempt to open these doors. There is no air outside, if you  
open the door everyone in the shelter will die. We will come to get  
you as soon as we can, please be patient. SDF-1 control out." she  
cut the circuit and returned to the veritech frequency.

"SDF-1 control to all veritechs, return to the ship immediately to  
begin refit for salvage operations."

She turned to see the captain standing next to her,"Lisa, you  
couldn't have known." He set his left hand on her shoulder and  
squeezed in reassurance.

Vanessa spoke up at this point,"Captain Gloval, I have a position  
fix. We appear to be just beyond the orbit of Pluto..." She trailed  
off as the information registered. Sammy returned in time to hear  
this and resumed her station as the rest discussed the improbability  
of this news.

The captain interrupted,"It's no big deal, as soon as the fold drive  
is ready we just reverse the jump and end right back where we  
started."

Sammy spoke up here,"Um, Captain. Damage control just informed  
me that the fold drive has disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

Vanessa whined,"How are we ever going to get home?" The  
captain decided moral was more important than honesty at  
this point,"Listen to me, we will get home. It may take some  
time, but no matter what we have a duty to get all the civilians  
back to Earth. Lisa please coordinate the recovery and salvage  
operations." With that he left the bridge, smiling slightly to reassure  
the rest of the command staff.

Once outside he extracted his pipe and lit it, letting the rich smoke  
fill his lungs before removing the pipe and exhaling directly toward  
the overhead return. The chemicals worked to calm his nerves,"It's  
going to be a long trip." he said in a low voice.

The recovery proceeded in an orderly fashion, transferring all the  
remaining civilians and as much of the city as could be salvaged  
into several large bays within the ship. They also managed to recover  
most of the anti gravity units that had torn loose during the aborted  
first attempt to take off. Repair crews worked constantly to reinforce  
the hull and reseal all the holes left by the battle.

Several intact battle pods were recovered and when opened the  
giant pilots were found frozen with their faces twisted in pain. Captain  
Gloval stood before the glass of the bay observation room and looked  
at the giant corpses with a slight shudder."So Doctor Lang, what killed  
these men?"

The chief scientist of the ship stood from the table and lifted his clip  
board,"All the indications of death by exposure are false. There  
physiology had already shut down before they froze. The cause of  
death appears to have been systemic cellular failure. Every cell in their  
body appears to have started producing an unknown protein. Their  
are traces of this protein in all their tissues, but their neural material is  
flooded with it. I should also point out that this protein has been found  
in all the blood samples taken from the human survivors. The concentration  
is significantly lower, and the purpose of this protein is as yet unclear,  
but this has never been found in the human body before now."

"Doctor, what do you believe the cause for this mutation is?" "Captain,  
the only common factor for all those involved is the fold maneuver. I  
believe that initiating the fold within a gravity well caused an unexpected  
interaction between the two energy types. This somehow 'flash modified'  
everyone's DNA. The aliens, having a much greater surface area, soaked  
up even more of this energy. It is possible that, like radiation exposure,  
they exceeded the lethal levels. The humans had a much lower exposure  
and therefore received a much lower dose."

"And how might this be linked to the energy left behind by the fold system  
when it vanished?"

"Captain, that is still a mystery." Lang touched a control on the table. A  
hologram of the chamber that once contained the fold drive appeared,  
relieving a mass of energy tendrils writhing across the empty space. The  
energy would coalesce on one side of the room, run into a central sphere  
with hundreds more just like it, and proceed to another side before  
dissipating just short of the bulkhead."The fold system disappeared due  
to a feedback created by the gravitational field it intersected. The resulting  
energy may have been responsible but most of the our equipment was not  
designed to detect exotic energies. The energy structure in the fold drive  
chamber is giving off some particles that have only been seen in super colliders."

"What effect is this having on other ship's systems?"

"The systems in line with the fold chamber seem to be operating at a  
higher efficiency. We still can't understand how the power is making it to  
these systems, but however this is happening seems to be improving our  
performance." Lang consulted the clipboard again,"Also, there may be other  
applications for this energy. We might be able to channel it into a defensive  
shield of some sort. Further research is required to be sure, but I would like  
to recommend that the entire crew also be tested for these changes."

The Captain rubbed his temples,"We need to finish preparations for the  
voyage back to Earth. This will take another day and a half, I'll have  
Lieutenant Commander Hayes set up a schedule for personnel to come  
by the lab for testing. Is that acceptable Doctor?"

"Yes Captain, I appreciate you giving this project such high priority."

The captain gestured out the window,"With all that, we have to know what  
might happen to our own people. We just have to keep the crew and  
civilians from panicking."

"Of course captain."

"If there is nothing else, then you are dismissed," The science team filed  
out, leaving Captain Henry Gloval standing before the huge window, looking  
pensive, as he tried to imagine how bad it might get if this one room was to  
ever become public knowledge. Well that could wait, he had enough to worry  
about.

Two days later the SDF-1 was finally pointed toward the sun again as her  
engines fired, accelerating smoothly toward home. Two squadrons of veritechs  
flew long range patrols, just in case the enemy they had picked up defolding  
that morning decided to make an appearance. Despite the great distance  
there was a renewed sense of hope to finally be moving along the path toward  
home.

* * *

Well, there is the second chapter, hope you like the twists. Should get to the rest of the characters next chapter.

Thanks to my wife for proofing this for me.


	3. Chapter 3: Friends

SDF Nedesco Chapter 3: Friends

The day after the SDF-1 blasted for earth Rick Hunter was called into his old friend's office. When he got there he found Roy and an attractive woman with auburn hair waiting for him."Hey Rick, come in. This is our XO, Lisa Hayes. Have a seat, we want to have a word."

Rick sat but he did not like the sound of this."So big brother, what's the big deal."

Lisa spoke,"We would like to thank you for your assistance during the battle in Macross City. The Destroid commander asked me to pass on his personal thanks."

Rick blinked,"Your welcome, I was just doing what I had to. I'm happy I could help."

Roy smiled,"How would you like to pilot a Veritech again little brother?"

Rick considered this for a moment,"You know what my dad said about soldiers and war. I never really agreed with him, but now that I've seen it for myself. He was right, war is a terrible thing." Rick's gaze darkened,"But he was wrong about soldiers. They aren't just a bunch of thugs that like killing. They are people, fighting and dying to protect what they care about." He looked at Lisa,"Your asking me to become a soldier?"

She respected the young man for his strength of character,"Yes, we were impressed with your ability to pilot the battleoid without the use of a neural link. I'm personally very impressed with you as a person. We think you would make a fine addition to the RDF."

Rick had been thinking about this choice since they got to Pluto. Now that he was faced with it his resolve crystallized."Joining the RDF is a big step from the flying circus. But yes I will join. It is probably the only way I'm going to survive the trip back to earth without going stir crazy."

Lisa nodded to Roy and turned back to Rick."Then I will leave you with Commander Fokker to finalize the details."

She left and Rick's eyes followed her, noting the athletic build under the uniform. When she was out of earshot he turned to Roy,"Hey big brother, just one question before we get started." Roy raised an eyebrow,"Is she seeing anyone?"

Roy was floored by the question until he realized Rick was serious. He pinched the bridge of his nose,"That is a long story bro."

The SDF-1 continued it's slow progress toward Earth for a week before the first attack came. A single capital ship broke from the formation and advanced, launching clouds of battle and fighter pods. Veritechs were launched to intercept the smaller craft until the mother ship came into range.

The battle quickly dissolved into a fur ball as friendly and enemy craft maneuvered for position. The Zentradi forces were taking heavy numerical losses, but only a small percentage of their total number were destroyed. The RDF forces were not so blessed with numbers and each Veritech lost severely hindered their effectiveness. The main advantage the earth forces had was formation flying, covering each other from attacks of opportunity, while the alien forces fought each man for himself.

The order came in to break off,"This is Skull One to all Veritech fighter squadrons, break off, get clear of the line of fire."

The fighters streaked out of the area, taking a few of the aliens in tow. The rest resumed their course for the SDF-1. The bow sections separated and bright blue energy arced between them, forming a ball that grew and flattened into a disc. Then it elongated until it ran the entire length of the collection gap. The bubble burst and projected a wave of energy forward. As it washed over the enemy formation the pods disappeared, vanishing from existence. Then the alien ship was struck slightly off axis, the entire port side disappearing in an uneven cut. All the reflex furnaces were breached and exposed to space. They released their energy and the ship blossomed into a small sun.

A moment later billions of small pieces of metal and flesh , each no larger than a few meters across, formed a cloud around the SDF-1. The Veritechs had a hard time landing with all the debris in the way, but they finally managed. The clean up took most of the day just to clear a path for the ship to fly through.

The captain went to visit Doctor Lang again that afternoon. Walking into the lab he saw the doctor conversing frantically in technobabble with some of his colleagues.

He spotted Henry and walked over,"Captain, this is incredible. We have never seen anything like this before, but the scientific implications are extraordinary. This could revolutionize space travel as we know it. The defensive and offensive potentials just stagger the mind."

Glovol held up his hand,"Please Doctor, slow down and tell me what you are talking about."

"We have discovered the heretofore unobserved particle known as a Boson. This could totally change our understanding of quantum physics, allowing us to do things that until now were unimaginable." Glovol had no idea what the scientist was trying to tell him, but had learned to give geniuses some latitude."Doctor Lang, please tell me what you think this could be in terms I can understand."

"Of course Captain. We have been able to deduce that the main gun has changed into a teleportation wave cannon. It appears that anything that is hit by the wave is randomly teleported into smaller chunks positioned around the ship. We might be able to redirect the exit point to avoid the navigational problems."

"I see, and the other possibilities you spoke of."

"We may be able to direct some of the energy into a defensive barrier. I'm not sure we could cover the entire ship, but every bit can help. The biggest possibility is Boson Jumping. It is a theoretical process where we could move from one place to another instantly, regardless of distance. If we could control it we could jump all the way back to Earth, or to another star, or even another galaxy."

"But Captain, the most amazing part is that the new protein seems to be designed to absorb and store Boson particles. If we could find a way to mentally release and control these particles, personal jumping may be possible. This could be of great value to combat pilots, allowing them to out maneuver the enemy in ways that could never be compensated for."

Captain Glovol realized the full potential of this technology,"How long do you think it will take to refine your theories into something practical?"

"That is the only problem sir. We can possibly have the barrier up in a few weeks, but the rest could take a long time. Even if we can get it working for the ship the personal control required to focus for a fighter jump could be beyond the human mind."

Glovol turned to leave,"Keep me apprised Doctor. I have other duties to attend to."

Rick and the rest of the graduating class were invited out for drinks following the ceremony. Roy, Lisa and Claudia were there as well, to congratulate them and give out squadron assignments. All of the new recruits with carrier experience were assigned to the Prometheus. All others were given postings at the various launch bays along the length of the ship.

Once all this was done they got down to serious drinking, some drinking more than others. Rick was one of those drinking very little. He noticed Lisa Hayes sitting alone at the bar nursing an amber filled glass. He walked over to her and set his drink on the bar,"So, how have you been Commander?"

She looked over at him,"Not too bad, and you?"

"I've been doing pretty well, just glad graduation is finally over with." He turned to her before continuing,"Look I couldn't help but notice you are drinking alone, so how about we get some fresh air?"

She searched his eyes for a second,"Sure, sounds good."

They got some sodas and headed for the door. Roy noticed them leaving and hoped the kid, no Rick, he had grown up a lot since Roy had spent time with the circus. He hoped Rick knew what he was doing. His attention was drawn back to the party and he was swept up in it.

Rick and Lisa walked slowly toward the park,"So do you want to talk about it Commander?"

"Please call me Lisa, Lieutenant."

"Okay, but only if you call me Rick."

"Okay Rick. Today is the anniversary of the day we lost contact with Mars Base Sara."

"Oh, I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to."

"How did you know?"

"Roy told me shortly after you and I met. I asked some questions about you and he wanted me to understand. I hope you don't mind."

"No, that's okay. I guess I should be happy to have friends that care enough to warn others away. But I think I should talk to someone about this."

She spent a few seconds organizing her thoughts,"Karl was the first and only man I ever loved. When he got transfered to Mars I swore that I would get there some day. Then we lost contact with the base."

Rick kept pace silently as she collected herself,"I was devastated, and I nearly gave up. But his memory, the fact that he would want me to keep going, that was all that made me put my life back together. So I bottled up my feelings and threw myself into my work. That is what has driven me this far."

"But on nights like this one, I am reminded of how it felt to be with him. I get so lonely and I just can't bottle it up any more. So I drink it away. It helps me get it back under control."

Rick could see the tears streaming down her face. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, she looked at him and he almost pulled away from the hatred in her eyes. Then she fell against him and cried into his shoulder.

They stood like this for several seconds before Rick put his arm around her and guided her to sit under a nearby tree. Once there he let her cry herself out.

Fifteen minutes later she sat up and looked away,"I'm pathetic. I'm so weak."

Rick turned her head to face him,"You're human Lisa. You have the right to your feelings. That doesn't mean that you're weak." He wiped the tears from her cheeks,"You don't have to face it alone though. You have friends that you can confide in, people that care about you. Let us help you, please?"

She lunged at him, pinning him to the ground and silencing him with her own lips. They embraced passionately for several minutes, until her hands started moving toward her zipper. He pushed her up slightly,"Lisa," he said in a thick voice,"are you sure?"

She continued her progress,"Please, don't ask me that. Just be with me." The look in her eyes told him what he needed to know. He responded to her in kind, reaching for the buttons on her uniform blouse.

Rick could just barely remember going back to Lisa's quarters. They had both been mostly blinded by passion, lost in the ecstasy of shared sensation. He awoke with Lisa curled up next to him, her auburn hair falling over his shoulder.

Then it hit him, Roy is gonna fucking kill me. He had warned Rick that Lisa wasn't ready for anything serious, and he had let her seduce him when she was feeling vulnerable.

She felt his body tense beneath her and began to rouse. She ran her hand over his chest and pressed her cheek into him. Then her eyes shot open as the previous night played through her memory. She sat up and looked into his eyes. The shock was apparent on her face as she realized what she had done. Then she noticed the front of her body and grabbed the blanket to her."I'm sorry Rick." She started sobbing into the sheet.

"For what?" Rick had been expecting her to explode at him, not apologize.

"For using you to help me feel better. I'm so sorry."

Rick hugged her to him, stroking her back."You have nothing to apologize for. I brought it on myself for pushing you to open up to your friends. If anything I'm flattered you considered me your friend."

She stopped sobbing and raised her head,"Thank you Rick. You were there for me." Lisa looked at him sheepishly,"So where do we go from here?"

He kissed her on the forehead,"Where do you want this to go?"

She shrugged,"Maybe we could just take it a day at a time. See how it works out."

Rick released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding,"I'm glad you said that. I was afraid you would say we should just forget about it."

She shook her head,"I don't want this to be just a one night stand. I find that you are special to me Rick. It's not just what happened last night, I respected you when we met. I don't know if we would have ever gotten together without this, but I'm not unhappy it happened." She hugged him close.

"Okay Lisa, we can see how it goes. Just don't be surprised if Roy comes down on me pretty hard. He doesn't want you to get hurt."

"I'll talk to him. He and Claudia do try to protect me. But I'll have Claudia work on him too."

"So what do you want to do this weekend, since we both have it off."

Lisa once again looked shocked as she tried to find a clock,"Lisa what's wrong?"

She found it and sighed in resignation,"You may not have to worry about waiting for Roy to find out. He and Claudia should be showing up any minute for us to go out to breakfast."

Rick smacked his face into his palm,"He is sooo going to kill me."

Lisa grinned mischievously,"Dose the condemned have a last request?"

He smiled back,"Sure, but I don't think we have enough time for me to take you up on your offer."

They laughed together at the exchange.

She held up his pants,"So do you think we should get dressed?"

He caught the tone of her voice and slid out from under the cover, walking slowly toward her. He was happy to see her eyes dance over his naked form. He came right up to her and took hold of his trousers,"Isn't turn around fare play?"

She blushed slightly and dropped the sheet wrapped around her, turning seductively in front of him. As she turned to face him again she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply. Then she headed off to her wardrobe and Rick collected his clothes from across half the apartment, getting dressed as quickly as possible. He left his jacket off and considered that the outfit might look casual, if a little wrinkled.

Lisa came out wearing a green sun dress with matching sandals. Rick loved the look on her and got lost in his thoughts, jumping as a knock sounded from the door. Lisa took his hand and they went to answer it.

Claudia was poised to say something when the door opened, but it was forgotten as she saw the unknown man standing next to Lisa.

Lisa decided to head her off,"Claudia, Roy, please come in. This is Rick Hunter, I believe you know him Roy."

They entered and Roy looked daggers at him,"Yeah, I used to know a guy by that name."

"Now Roy, don't be mad at him. Please?" She sat the other couple down on the couch and leaned into Rick as they sat on the love seat. She wrapped his arm around her waist and held his hand over her stomach."Rick and I left the party last night and talked for a while. He was there for me when I needed a friend. Anything else is unimportant when compared to that, don't you think so Claudia?"

"I'm happy someone was there for you Lisa, and it is a pleasure meeting another friend of your's."

Roy still looked unhappy, but knew better than to try to argue with both women, and Lisa did look happier than he had ever seen.

Lisa checked the thin watch on her wrist,"Well, should we go to breakfast?"

They left for the restaurant, Lisa hanging on Rick's arm and glowing with happiness.

This is where it really starts to change.

Thanks to my wife for proofing this for me.

Also I've added a forum topic where you can post any questions you may have.


	4. Chapter 4: Barrier

SDF Nadesco Chapter 4: Barrier

Rick and Lisa spent the whole weekend together, sitting and talking, enjoying mutually happy violence, eating, or sleeping. They lost track of the rest of the universe, not caring what anyone might say. Then Monday morning came, bringing their oblivion to a crashing halt.

They showered and dressed together, enjoying each others company the whole time. Then they headed for their individual duty stations after a long and passionate kiss. As Rick walked into Skull squadron's hanger he was quickly assailed by Roy shouting at him, not sure how to interpret his tone,"Hey Rick, come into my office."

Stepping into Roy's office was like walking into the eye of a hurricane. Papers and folders were covering every square inch of surface except the floor and ceiling. They had a sort of organization to them that he started to pick up on before realizing that it was an organizational chart. Being suddenly cut off from earth with a massive influx of raw recruits required an almost complete restructuring of the crew.

Rick turned from his perusal of this ordered madness to face Fokker as he closed the door,"So what did you want to see me about Roy?"

"First of all, I thought I told you to steer clear of Lisa."

Rick shook his head,"It wasn't planned or anything. I just noticed she looked depressed, so I tried to help. Then, well, it just went from their. If it's any consolation, she made the first couple moves." Rick held his friends eyes the whole time, knowing he had given Lisa every chance to back out before it went too far."She also says thank you."

Roy blinked,"For what?"

Rick smiled slightly at his best friends confusion,"For inviting me to the island. For trying to protect her by warning me away. For not throwing me out the nearest air lock first thing this morning." He ticked off the points on his fingers, noticing his friend grinning a little at the last one.

"Point taken, so what is the plan for you two?"

"Take it a day at a time, see if we can stand each other in a month. Mind you, we probably won't have much time together due to our duty schedules. But that may be half the fun, trying our best to squeeze in a meal here and there. We spent a good deal of time yesterday just talking, exploring our intentions for the future."

"And what did you find out about each other?"

"That we have enough differences to keep us talking for years. Even with the service as our common ground we don't have many other levels to connect on. So we have to find those few and a middle ground on the rest."

Roy quickly shifted from protective friend to sympathetic friend,"About your duty shift, we are looking for someone to take fourth position on delta flight. Do you want it?"

Rick had to switch gears quickly, but managed to keep up without his mind grinding too much,"What would be the difference with beta flight?"

"Mainly, you get to spend the day shift in the air, and standard duty is during the week."

Rick got where his oldest friend was going,"So I get transfered to the heavy weapons support flight and get to spend the most dangerous part of any battle in the rear."

Roy let his smile broaden at his friend's tone, Rick knew what he was trying to do."Think of it as trying to protect two of my friends at once. It is still combat duty and in no way safe, but you have a good enough reputation after your action on Macross Island."

"No need to defend the offer Roy. I do appreciate the chance to spend more time with Lisa, as well the reduced chance of getting my ass shot off. I got enough of that back on the island. I accept your offer." He stood and held out his hand. Roy returned the gesture,"And thanks big brother." "Not a problem little brother."

They spent the next half hour finalizing the transfer and discussing the flight's details. Then Rick went out to find his flight leader, Lieutenant Commander Caldwell, and hand over his orders.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Lisa reported to the Bridge with the glow of woman in that vague area somewhere between lust and love. The weekend had done wonders for burning off years of suppressed sex drive, but it had reawakened her hormones. She was now riding the wavefront of desire for her lover.

Lisa, while not completely new to these feelings, had only experienced this with one other man. And there was never this passion with Karl, even though she was a young woman the attraction had always been intellectual. Now she had a warrior, strong without being forceful, brave without being reckless, and funny while not being corny or cliche. The truth was that he was everything she wanted, even more so than Karl. And in that realization she had started letting go. The process was nowhere near complete, but the first steps along the path away from him had been made. For the first time in too long she felt happy, the kind of happiness that resonated from every cell in her body and could not be hidden. Not that she wanted to hide it, just tone it down enough to keep her from bursting into giggles at random moments. But the volume nob for her happiness was missing, stolen, or willing given to, Rick, she wasn't quiet sure which. She did her best, going to her station and lowering the cushion. But she found no need to sit, having spent so much time off her feet and having so much energy. She dove into the reports scrolling up her console, trying to ignore the almost constant stream of giggles coming from the rear stations. Somehow the three bridge bunnies managed to always have an isolated channel to chat on, never being caught in their conversations, for as soon as someone tuned into that channel they were discussing ship's operations. But Lisa knew the days gossip was her and the young pilot she had been seen with Saturday. The fact that they had not been seen at all Sunday just added to the speculation.

Lisa wrote a short reply to the latest request for computer time for some off the wall project a small group of scientists wanted to run through simulations and moved onto the next. Then she reread the veritech transfer report. Most of it was routine but one entry jumping out at her. A certain fresh pilot was being transfered to skull delta flight, putting him in the rear of the formation when alpha and delta would fly daily patrols and also shifting his scheduling around to more closely match hers.

Lisa was wondering how Rick had pulled that one off when the time stamp on the message registered. It was from about five minutes after they had said goodbye this morning, about ten minutes before he could have made it to the hanger at a flat out run. So this must have been Roy's idea. And probably Claudia's as well, knowing how meddaling her former roommate was. The two were now conspiring to give her more time to spend with someone she had barely known Friday. Well, Saturday must have made more of an impression than she thought. Still it was nice to have friends who were willing to give her a chance at happiness. She acknowledged the report and forwarded it along to the captain for final approval, something she was sure he would give.

About five seconds into the next message a shapely hand came down over her display and a voice spoke in her ear,"So, are you going to talk to me so we can put an end to the rumors circulating around the ship, or are you just going to stand there basking in the afterglow of a weekend of debauchery." Claudia Grant was Lisa's oldest and dearest friend, but she did have a way of getting right to the point. Sometimes she thought her friend had totally skipped the classes on small talk while growing up."Claudia, you know I don't kiss and tell."

"Kissing I saw, it's the other stuff I'm interested in."

Lisa blushed slightly,"I have nothing to say on the subject." Lisa said in a no nonsense voice, a evil grin on her face as she denied Claudia any of the information she wanted.

Claudia leaned in close, determined to at least get something out of miss after glowing tight lips,"Is it true that you two didn't leave your quarters from Saturday afternoon till this morning?"

Lisa finally realized what the buzz was about. Her marathon weekend had apparently been noticed by enough people to have sparked a rumor that she spent the whole time with Rick. Well if thats what they thought, at least they got it right. She decided to get even with her for this. She faked a yawn,"Yeah, what a way not to get sleep."

Claudia looked shocked at her friend making that kind of round about admission,"Lisa, the whole time? Thirty-six hours?"

Lisa nodded vigorously,"Most of it."

Claudia threw her arms around her friends neck,"I'm so happy for you Lisa. That kind of passion can only mean one thing, you got it bad."

Lisa, always so prim and proper, blushed at the truth of her friend's accusation."I do love him. I can be honest enough with myself to admit that, and he actually helped me let go of Karl. It's not finished yet, but we spent a long time talking. He just listened to me pour my soul out, and then he helped me put the pieces back together. We didn't spend the whole time making love, not even a quarter of it. almost as much time he just held me, letting me drain years of emotion in a day and a half."

Claudia could feel a great deal of love starting to form in her own heart for the young man who could cause such a profound change in her best friend. She had been trying for years to get Lisa to realize that life was happening around her while she hid from it. Now in one weekend she had finally started down the long road to living again. 'Rick Hunter, I owe you one.'

Claudia smiled gently at her friend,"I'm just happy you are happy." She hugged her friend and returned to her station.

Five minutes later the captain arrived, once again hitting his head on the doorway. He made his way toward his seat, cursing the architects in Russian.

The ladies at the front station said in unison as he crossed the distance,"Good morning Captain."

Gloval sat down and pushed the brim of his hat up,"Good morning, Lisa, Claudia. Do we have anything new this morning?"

Lisa tapped a few controls, sending three reports to the captain's displays,"Doctor Lang is reporting the need for space to install the prototype control systems of the 'Pinpoint Barrier' as he is calling it. There are enough new pilots to require the formation of four more squadrons, Commander Fokker's proposal for rearranging the TOE is attached. The last item is from the civilian government to increase their allocation of resources by ten percent."

Gloval could feel his blood pressure rise as he read the last item, knowing that only by keeping the civilian population contented could they hope to continue to operate smoothly. But their resources were limited, particularly finite, without the ability to resupply from Earth. The one thing they had plenty of was space, allowing them to set up enough additional hydroponic growers to provide food for the entire population. This new request would stretch their building materials almost to the limit, given that the materials had to come from the damage control reserves. They had been able to salvage most of the metals from Macross city, but it only went so far, leaving a huge gap to be filled.

The civilian population also wanted more space to set up parks and recreation facilities. Henry could understand their desire for a normal existence and had heard several of them commenting that despite their predicament life could have a measure of normality, if they only worked hard enough toward that end. He remembered that as he reviewed the ships manifest and detailed a seven percent increase to the allocation.

Then he reviewed the other items and approved them without amendment. Then he pulled up the rest of his schedule for the day and brooded over it while the rest of the bridge crew went about their business. He had this nagging suspicion life was going too easy for them. They could detect the enemy fleet on the edge of radar range, but not one of them had broken formation to approach since that first one had been destroyed by the new main gun. Gloval suspected they were just as concerned and surprised by this new weapon as the crew of the SDF-1. The damn thing was that they were so unfamiliar with this technology, having salvaged most of it without really having time to dismantle it and gain an understanding of it's construction. The fold system was still semi-unique, only a few prototype units had been built from detailed scans of the original unit. He was fairly certain it had been his decision to execute the fold inside the atmosphere that had caused the malfunction, so it was his responsibility to get them all home. But what new surprises would unfold before them from that one decision.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Bretai was thinking along almost the same lines, but his cultural perspective caused him to think of the new weapon as just that. A new weapon system, created by the micronians. This device could instantly destroy any ship he could send against it, and yet leave everything it touched broken down into manageable chunks for the micronians to collect, as they had after the last battle.

The purpose of collecting the debris was totally lost on him, but his foe must have a reason. The Zentradi knew nothing of repair or maintenance. Their ships had sufficient redundancy to last for decades of continuous battle. When the giant vessels were finally used up they were returned to the factory satellite and a replacement requisitioned. The satellite would automatically dismantle the well worn hulls and put the resources to use in whatever it was currently building. But not even the factory crew had much real idea of maintenance. When a section of a line went down they simply routed around it. If the number of disabled sections got to a certain point they just shut the whole line down and worked the others even harder, hastening their demise as well.

This situation had been established by the Robotech Masters as a way of assuring their army never got large enough to be a threat. Unfortunately, when a rebelling soldier could kill several Masters with one kick, the technological superiority of the Robotech Masters was mostly offset.

The upshot of all this was that without another factory satellite the Zentradi would one day run out of weapons with which to wage war. But long before this happened their protoculture reserves would dry up, leaving them scattered across the galaxy. Most would dye in the cold blackness of space while a few would be close enough to a habitable planet to survive. Of these few the probability of any of them developing the necessary skills to survive would be so small that it was an accepted fact among the Zentradi leadership that the end of their supply of protoculture, the organic fuel that made robotechnology possible, would mean the end of their entire race.

This was why Bretai had come looking for Zor's ship. The renegade Robotech Master had invented and then stolen the only artificial means of producing the much needed fuel. The substance could be produced naturally, but the Zentradi did not know this and the Robotech Masters had discovered the peril's involved in doing so. Namely the dreaded Invid, a race of genetically engineered creatures that fed upon the flower of life, the only natural source of protoculture. They used it to power their mecha as well, but it was primarily a food source, a delicacy they got far too infrequently for their tastes.

Bretai's brooding was brought to a sudden stop when Exidore entered the command bubble,"My Lord."

He nodded,"What brings you my old friend?"

"We have received a message from the high command, sir."

Bretai groaned," And what does Dolza have to say to us."

"We are ordered to capture the Micronesian ship immediately and intact. He has ordered you to use any and all resources at your disposal to accomplish this."

Bretai grinned at this obvious overreaction,"Is that all?"

"No My Lord. He has ordered me to take command if you do not follow his orders to the letter."

Bretai almost laughed at the thought of his demunative agitant attempting to subdue him."So what are you going to do if I only send three ships?"

"I would consider that to be an excessive strike force for subduing a single ship, but well within the bounds of orders." He paused, smiling at his old friend,"I would like to point out that I have never questioned your judgment and have no intention of trying to usurp command from you."

"Very well, order three ships to advance and capture the micronian ship."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Captain, we are picking up three enemy ships headed for us. ETA twelve minutes."

The captain nodded, finally having the answer to those questions,"Scramble all fighters and prepare the main gun for firing."

Lisa pressed a few controls and turned to look at Gloval,"Do you want to test the pinpoint barrier sir?"

He considered this for a moment,"Tell Doctor Lang to fire up the system, we have a full combat trial for him."

Down in the barrier control room, a borrowed lab where they had built and tested the systems prior to their actual installation, the control systems were already booted up and waiting for a sufficient power level to activate. The head scientist was standing behind a bank of four control stations, three for the small discs of energy that would hug the ships skin tightly and one for the exit points. He walked over to the young women at the controls to offer some last minute advice,"Just remember that we do not expect to intercept all the incoming fire, but every shot that you cal stop will greatly increase the amount of time we can hold out. Also, keep those exit terminus a safe distance from the enemy ships. It is unknown if they are bidirectional and having explosive energy and shrapnel erupting that close to the ship could have unforeseen consequences."

The four controllers nodded,"Roger." and the systems went into full operation. Three discs of condensed boson energy formed on the skin of the ship, moving to intercept the first wave of enemy missiles. It was a light strike, intended to strip the armor away from key systems. The barrier controllers preformed admirably, stopping twenty eight of the thirty possible impacts. The two that got through were barely able to scratch the paint on the heavily armored engine sections.

The Zentradi did not fair so well, having a sadistic controller directing their own fire back at them. All twenty eight missiles were directed at the middle of the lead ship, right where the main reflex furnace was. The first twenty peeled back the heavy outer armor, exposing the compartments to space. Many of the crew there died instantly as huge chunks of shrapnel tore through bodies and bulkheads with ease. The rest were exposed to hard vacuum as emergency bulkheads slammed shut to seal the compromised sections.

The next five missiles cleared away the intervening spaces, exposing the lightly armored engineering bay. The last two missiles destroyed this obstacle, leaving the furnace open to space. Then the last missile detonated on the surface of the reactor. The containment bottle held but the sudden shock caused the antiquated safety systems to activate, shutting the core down.

The two secondary reflex furnaces went to full power to make up the difference. But even with full power the ship was dead, having lost all it's control runs to the aft section during the storm of metal. Every system on the ship went to local control, crews scrambling into action as they lost contact with anyone not in yelling range.

Then the first wave of missiles from the SDF-1 arrived. The crew there was not trying to take any of the enemy ships intact, sending hundreds of shots split between the enemy ships. The two trailing ships managed to survive by eliminating most of the incoming fire with point defense. The lead ship had a less effective defense net, some lasers doubling up on missiles while others were left unmolested. In the end over a third of the bombardment detonated near enough to do damage and the ship ceased to exist in a giant fireball. The other ships veered around the expanding ball of burning rubble and launched pods and more missiles.

Their second missile attack was less effective than the first, despite the presence of almost three times as many missiles. This was due to the fact that most of their targeting systems were still dazzled by the huge explosion, causing two thirds of the shots fired to veer off course enough to miss. The remaining missiles were quickly picked off by the barrier, letting only one impact harmlessly on the engine armor.

The returned part of the salvo was directed in the same way against one of the other ships, causing it's furnace to go critical and blow the ship out of existence. Now both sides stopped firing as the battle and fighter pods were finally in position. They launched huge numbers of smaller munitions at each other with over half of them causing mutual detonations at the half way point. The ones that survived tracked targets and removed pilots from the mortal coil on both sides, only killing a few on the human side while taking down dozens of the Zentradi mecha. Still the defenders were out numbered by five to one as the battle moved to close quarters.

As the capital ships appeared to inch closer across the massive expanse the pilots engaged in a pitched battle for survival. Even with a three to one kill ratio the veritech combatants knew they could never win if not for the main gun. Rick hunter watched as hundreds of short lived miniature suns blossomed and died in the cold vacuum. Then a familiar voice came over the battle net,"This is Skull One to Delta Flight, looks like some of them are breaking through. Take 'em down."

Acknowledging the command Caldwell led his formation toward the approaching enemy,"Delta two and three, take the right flank. Four, your with me on the left. Break and attack."

The flight split and moved in on the enemy formation. They opened up with guns on approach and turned half of the pods into fire balls. The other half broke and went for single engagement, trying to overwhelm the veritechs with numbers. Hunter and Caldwell switched to guardian mode and began circling, covering each other while picking off the pods. The other pair preformed the same maneuver and soon only the officers pod remained, blasting away at his attackers with all his rage,"You shall all perish before the fury of Kyron." He bellowed again and again as he tried to hit the flight circling him. Caldwell came over the radio,"Hunter, take the shot while I distract him."

"Roger." Rick banked hard, bringing his lasers into play while lining the gun pod up. Then Kyron was hit in the side by several shots, stitching up his left arm and destroying the shoulder mount.

Kyron ignored the damage and both he and Rick fired at once. The energy weapons hit Hunter's left leg, sending him into a spin on the unbalanced thrust. His fire tore the officers right arm and leg off also spinning the pod erratically. The two mecha slammed into each other, which stopped the spinning and sent the top cannon on the pod flying.

Recovering from the disorientation Kyron blasted for his ship, taking several more hits,"I will have my revenge micronian scum." He shouted as more damage indicators lite up his display.

The final ship came within range and the veritechs broke to get clear of the main gun. The energy bubble built and released, enveloping the entire ship and most of the remaining pods. The resulting debris field materialized aft of the ship this time, which allowed the crew of the SDF-1 to collect resources for further operations.

ooo000OOO000ooo

That night they resumed their course for earth, fully restocked with repair materials. Rick left the hospital just after dinner, checked out from head to toe. He was still a little shaken from the g forces, but otherwise fine. Lisa was waiting for him as he came into the reception area. She spotted him and ran toward him, wrapping her arms around his chest in a bone crushing hug,"I was so worried Rick. Are you okay?"

He struggled to breath,"I'll be fine if my ribs don't puncture my lungs."

Lisa blinked twice and then it hit her what he was saying. She loosened her grip and gently pushed him toward the door. They walked together down the street, Lisa leading them to her quarters. As she reached for the handle he spoke,"You know they said I should get some rest."

"And just what dose that mean?"

He looked a little sheepish,"Well maybe I should go to my quarters, and try to get some sleep at least."

She smiled at his attempt to be diplomatic,"Oh don't worry, you'll sleep. After I get through with you." With a wicked grin she pulled him through the door and locked it behind them.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Well there's chapter four, hope you like it.

Thanks to my wife for proofing for me.


	5. Chapter 5: Decisions

SDF Nadesico Chapter 5: Decisions

As the SDF-1 neared Saturn Captain Gloval had to constantly suppress the urge to go to rapid fire on the main gun. The ice chunks that made up the rings around the planet could be hiding any number of the enemy ships that had been tailing them up until yesterday. The enemy commander was a crafty one he had to concede.

Gloval had been planning to use the rings as cover to loose the tail. But now it seemed that the last battle had caused his alter ego to decide that out-thinking his opponent was the way to go. So now the enemy had disappeared, and Henry suspected they were lying in wait in those rings.

Now all the Captain had to decide was whether or not to run the gauntlet. If he ran through the ice fields he would risk having to take on some, if not all, of the enemy fleet during the passing. While going around would avoid the worst of those threats, it would take them out of their optimal orbit to get back to Earth. And when they came out the other side the enemy would be right on their tail again without even needing to fold to close the gap.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Rick and Lisa were having a working dinner in the officer's mess, along with Roy and Claudia. Doctor Lang had made a request to form an experimental squadron to test the possibilities of Boson jumping. The Captain had approved and sent it to Roy to work out the details. He had just finished reorganizing the latest group of raw recruits into one flight or another. Now he was given a list of candidates to pick from based on Lang's criteria. He had not failed to notice the name of his oldest friend on the list and had decided to jump on it.

He had designed the new squadron to put Rick in charge, requiring him to be promoted and giving him some leadership experience. The kid could use both, and would probably benefit from the extra money with the way his and Lisa's relationship was progressing.

Now he just had to let the poor kid know he was in for it. He took a sip of his water and decided to stop stalling. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small case,"Hey Rick, catch." He tossed it across the table at the young officer.

Rick leisurely plucked the box out of the air and looked at it suspiciously."What's this Roy?" The couple asked. Hunter opened it, revealing two sets of twin-linked silver bars.

Lisa looked at the CSC, "What's going on Commander?"

Roy smiled,"The young man is now a full Lieutenant. And," He slid a file across,"He has been put in command of the newest squadron. It is an experimental group to explore the possibilities of Boson Jumping. Vermilion Squadron will be, primarily, responsible for trying to prove the Doctor's theories. They will be directly under the command of myself and Lang."

Rick sat in shock until Lisa pinched his arm,"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Just resetting the breaker." Lisa purred in his ear. She reached up and started replacing his rank insignia.

Rick opened the folder,"So why me Big Brother?"

Roy shrugged,"Don't blame me. Your name was on the short list of people Lang wants for this project. I'm not entirely sure what his criteria for selection are, but the list is mostly young pilots with a high link score and almost no time in the service."

Rick looked at the information in front of him with newer interest. Within he found three files, two women and one man, all within a year of himself in age. They had graduated in the same class as him and most of their scores were comparable to his. The only thing that really set them apart was his flying experience. They had all been pilots before joining, but none of them had made it a profession like Rick.

It looked like the guy, Max Sterling, was some sort of math whiz. His scores were at the top of the range, with a fairly good talent for flying. Clarissa McFee, the older of the two girls, was a physics specialist who had decided to take up piloting as a past time. Then she felt compelled to join after her parents had been killed in the attack on Macross Island. Rick had to admit that while vengeance was not an emotion he understood he did hope it wouldn't become an issue.

The last member of the group was Keiko Tanaka. She had been an amateur pilot on the island whose family had been wet navy for ten generations. She was preparing to join the RDF, scoping out the SDF-1 on launch day.

As Rick put down the files he looked at Roy,"So, you want me to take command of this group. What's the catch?"

Roy grinned,"You will be expected to file regular reports, not only on the experiments, but also on how each member of the squadron is doing. Aside from that headache, you'll have to maintain discipline among your subordinates." Roy took a deep breath,"You're also going to have to deal with shit from other squadron leaders. They're going to treat you like a kid and like you're getting special treatment because we are old friends."

"Is that what's happening?" Rick asked.

"Hell no. There are only six names on that list. You have the highest rank among them, and the other two decided to go into specialist training. This is the only way I could set this up. You can tell anyone who thinks otherwise exactly why you were chosen. But my honest advice is to just ignore them."

Rick did not like the idea of just letting such things slide, but he would trust his best friend for now. He would have enough trouble sorting out everything for his new command to pull down more by trying to compete with seasoned military officers. "So, when do I meet them?"

"You should find them in hanger seven tomorrow. I had a meeting with all of them earlier today. They seem to be excited about working with you."

"What makes me so special?"

"You are something of a celebrity among the young pilots for your action on the island. Every pilot knows what a bitch the batteloid is without a link."

"Tell me about it, like trying to fly three planes at once." Rick groaned.

"That should help to deflect most of the crap. The rest will just be myopic assholes." The whole group shared a quick laugh. They continued discussing the new squadron for another hour before deciding to adjourn the meeting.

ooo000OOO000ooo

The next morning Rick entered the hanger to find the three junior grade lieutenants sitting around a table conversing. The younger girl spotted him and snapped to attention, the other two turning as they followed suit a fraction of a second later. They all saluted with the precision of persons not long out of the academy.

Rick returned the salute and motioned at the chairs,"As you were." He sat in the empty chair, setting his stack of files and manuals on the open corner.

He leaned back,"I guess we need to get introductions out of the way. I'm Rick Hunter, CO of Vermilion Squadron."

He paused and looked at the man on his left.

Nodding the man stood,"I'm Max Sterling." He said a little timidly,"I'm a little inexperienced and might need some help at times." Feeling that he might have embarrassed himself, Max sat quickly.

Rick nodded and turned to the woman sitting across from him. She smiled and stood, speaking with only a hint of an Irish accent,"Clarissa McFee, sir." She sat with no further words, feeling that trying to say more would probably cause a repeat of Max's blunder.

Rick nodded once more and turned from the redhead to the woman on his right.

The only time he had ever seen a darker shade of black than her hair was in space. It was somewhat more striking when coupled with her eyes. Those limitless black centered orbs that conveyed all the coldness that her hair brought to mind. But then she smiled briefly, transfiguring her features to those of a caring sister as she glanced at Max. She stood,"Keiko Tanaka. Pleasure to meet you sir." She resumed her seat with a reassuring wink to Max.

She had spent most of the last hour trying to convince him that he was in fact a superb pilot. She had been impressed with his abilities when she had been paired with him through the academy. The only team that had come close to their combat flying scores had been the one including their new CO.

Rick nodded one last time and flipped to the next page of the document before him. He reviewed the information one last time and put it down."As you know, we are to be an experimental squadron to try to achieve something Doctor Lang calls Boson Jumping. Now I personally have no idea as to exactly what that is, but here is what it boils down to for us. We will be receiving our modified planes in three days. From what I understand the science boys have even more toys they want us to try out, in addition to the jumping mechanism."

He paused as he took a drink."Until then it's back to the academy. We will be spending all of our time in instruction that they hope will help us in making the initial attempts. When we receive our planes then we will split our time between instruction, flying and review. The last part will be meant to try to figure out refinements for the training program so the next group can try to get it right faster." He made eye contact with each one in turn as he asked,"Any questions?"

Clarissa cleared her throat,"I just don't see how Boson Jumps could be possible. They violate all the laws of physics as we know them. It just all seems like Sci-Fi to me."

Rick shrugged,"So was the SDF-1 for most of the last century. Sci-Fi is one of the primary inspirations for scientific development."

Clarissa nodded,"I remember meeting a scientist once that didn't read much other than science journals. He couldn't imagine where all the other scientists got their inspiration."

The whole group laughed at this anecdote. When Rick recovered he asked,"Any other questions?" The silence that stretched out answered."In that case, let's go see the good doctor."

ooo000OOO000ooo

Rick dragged himself into Lisa's quarters three days later. They had finally gotten the new veritechs, and the modifications had been unbelievable. The science team had decided to test several modular components that might be used in a new system. The added power caused the veritech to be capable of exceeding it's considerable structural limits. This put it well outside the limitations of the pilot, even with the newest G suits.

Because of this he felt like he had been beaten with a baseball bat over ninety percent of his body. Add to that the odd instruction sessions that preceded their flights giving him a headache, he hurt all over.

Now he was just looking forward to a hot bath and a long weekend of rest. But his thoughts came to a screeching halt when he saw the look on Lisa's face. He had seen her deep in thought before, but now she was just totally spaced. And whatever she was thinking about was causing her pain. The black streaks down her face gave testament to the fact that she had been crying for some time. Also the fact that she had pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them spoke volumes about her emotional state.

"Lisa?" Rick said timidly. When he received no response he slowly made his way over to the couch where she sat, trying not to startle her. He gently snaked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him slightly.

Her head snapped around and from the look of utter disgust in her eyes Rick swore he would be dead any moment. Then he saw recognition dawn on her face, followed quickly by love and a desperate pleading to help her sort out the raging feelings warring within her.

While he was young, he had seen this state before several times in their first few days together. He put aside wondering what had caused this particular episode and simply pressed her head against his chest. She quickly wrapped her arms around him and balled, letting any last control go in the reassuring embrace.

Rick leaned back into the cushions, knowing that only after the long cry would she be in any state to talk. So he simply stroked her hair lightly as her body shook with sobs.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Not far away, Henry Gloval was having his own version of an emotional breakdown. His comfort came from small amounts of amber liquid to numb the parts of himself that currently despised the part of him that was a cold and calculating commander. He hated having to resort to this to keep his psyche from tearing itself apart, but he hated himself for a lot of things these days. Today just happened to be a special day for him, the day he knew his soul was damned for all eternity.

He was the captain of this ship. As such he had to make the hard decisions. Like weather to risk some lives on making a close pass to Saturn's rings. A place that was probably crawling with enemy ships of every shape and size. Or he could definitely kill them all by trying to swing wide and avoid the situation all together. The truth was that swinging around would place them in the wrong position to make it back to Earth with before their supplies ran dry. He took another sip and leaned back.

No he was definitely damned.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Rick grabbed a towel as he stepped out of the shower, having washed most of the soreness out of his muscles. He saw Lisa stir under the covers. She had cried herself to sleep and he had carried her into the bedroom.

He slipped between the sheets and spooned up to her. She snuggled into him, pulling his arm more tightly around her.

After five minutes she said,"I'm sorry. I shouldn't use your shoulder every time I have a problem making a decision."

"That's what it's their for, whenever you need it." He said playfully, kissing her neck."What had you so tied up anyway?"

She giggled as his lips moved over a ticklish spot, then turned somber,"I got the notice that my annual contraceptive implant is about to need replacement. It got me to thinking about our relationship, which caused me to think about Karl. Then I just went on to question too many things I thought I had decided on years ago. Most of the questions had answers that made me feel like I was betraying Karl." She began crying gently.

Rick drew her too him and, while tempted to stop her, just waited. He knew that she would, and had to, continue when she was ready.

Finally she started again,"I thought about how much I love you, and compared it to how I loved him. That was the worst part, causing me to feel ashamed. When you came in I was headed into another angry swing. I hated everything about you for that instant, you caused me to have all these questions." She paused briefly, then snuggled into his chest again."Then it hit me that the only answer was to move on, to let go and love again. I'm sorry I put you through all this."

Rick tightened his arms slightly,"I never thought it would be over in just one weekend. I know that you can only love deeply, not a chance for casual relationships. If you were not that way I don't think I would have fallen for you." He lifted her face to his and kissed her deeply.

When they broke he continued,"Take all the time you need. And go ahead and have your implant renewed, if we decide to move to that stage then we can have it removed later or just let it run out." She kissed him again and wrapped her arms and legs around him. Next thing he knew she was on top, body pressed against his.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Bretai sat reading the message he had received from the high command. Apparently Exidore had filed a report that convinced Dolza that direct action against the micronian ship was not just stupid, but suicidally so. Dolza had instructed Bretai to use more indirect actions to capture the ship. He had also insisted on sending out more ships.

This had saddled Bretai with a command who regarded that upstart Kyron as a god. Even those who knew about his reputation for friendly fire still respected his impressive success record. Bretai just knew he was going to regret calling in that idiot's command.

On the other hand he might end this whole mess with his latest plan. His opponent had probably been planning to use the celestial debris field around the gas giant to break the Zentradi sensor lock.

Fortunately for Bretai his ships still had folding capability, allowing them to get ahead of the enemy ship and set up the trap. The ice rings caused few navigational hazards for the capital ships and the pods could easily out fly them. The one problem they did encounter was communication disruptions from the radiation bursts from the planet and large chunks of heavy metals floating through the ice.

This required that they pass orders through intermediaries, breaking the units down into squadrons of eight ships. This meant that it could take up to a minute to pass a message from one end to the other. Bretai had instituted old style coded burst transmissions to minimize the chance of garbles.

So with all the preparations set they sat and waited. The sensor pods they had sent out to sniff for the refitted Zentradi ship had picked up a few sensor traces, indicating it was still headed in. Now all he had to worry about was that overgrown child jumping the gun and blowing their whole trap.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Thanks to my wife for reviewing.


	6. Chapter 6 :Gauntlet

SDF Nedesco Chapter 6: Gauntlet

"It's beautiful." Lisa purred in Ricks arms. The two officers were sitting together on a bench in the Prometheus observation lounge. The ship was still a few days out from Saturn. But the planet could be seen clearly, the rings glistened with refracted and reflected light.

"It would be more beautiful if the entire alien fleet wasn't hiding in the rings."

"True. But we should be able to cope with the worst of it with Roy's plan. I'm still not sure the fighters won't be picked up before we enter the ice fields. Still, launching from within the rings would be even more dangerous."

He kissed her neck lightly, "We will deal with anything that comes along, just as we have already. The captain is a good man, with good people helping him." He squeezed her gently,"He has had to write a whole new book for this ship, and has always made good calls."

She breathed a heavy sigh, then turned toward him,"I think he feels a great deal of guilt over ordering the fold maneuver that got us stranded out here. Now he's lumping this situation into the 'his fault' category."

"That just makes him a better person. He didn't have a choice about the fold, but if he hadn't done it we would all be dead. I am still wondering what happened to the rest of earth."

"I know. Given the time they waited to come after us and the firepower they have displayed, I would say the Earth suffered little extra damage."

"I wonder if we have seen what the aliens are really capable of? The general design of their ships matches ours, so they may have particle cannons as well. A fleet their size could have devastated an entire continent before they came after us."

"We won't even know until we get inside the orbit of Jupiter. The radio signals will still be too faint unless they use directional signals."

They turned to the window and sat in silence for another few minutes. Then he said,"Well, it's not even worth worrying about all that until we conquer this first hurdle."

ooo000OOO000ooo

Vermilion squadron was meeting for their last class until after they cleared the ringed planet. Dr. Lang was lecturing about visualizing the destination and letting the subconscious fill in the blanks. He had been refining the equations for boson jumping and had the pilots memorize them. The human mind preformed thousands of calculations with every step, judging exactly how many muscle cells to activate in dozens of parts of the body to maintain balance with only a single support.

"So you see, if you let your mind handle the details, you can jump to any point you can visualize. We are going to start spending a portion of each instruction period trying to test this theory."

The pilots all realized why they now had several very comfortable couches sitting behind their chairs. "For today we are going to try to jump from one couch to the one directly across from you. If you would please take your places."

The pilots sank into the conforming material and felt their muscles relax as the sub sonics began to work on doctor began to speak as they relaxed,"Now clear your minds and try to visualize yourself lying on the couch across from you."

Rick focused on clearing his mind, but no matter how he tried thoughts of his job and relationship kept flowing through his head like an unstoppable current. He decided to stop fighting it after five minutes and let his thoughts flow, occasionally trying to weave into the pattern the visualization of his target point.

A strange sound came from his left and his eyes shot open,"What was that?" He asked, expecting to see Max on the couch next to him. The space was empty and slowly being filled with the expanding foam. "Oh man, what a rush." The voice came from across the room and they all looked to see Max lying on his target couch. He looked fine except for the glazed over eyes.

"Are you okay, Max?" Rick asked.

"I think I just had my first drug trip, but without chemical intervention. It was like a brilliant flash of colors and then I was here. But it felt like nothing else I can describe."

"Better than sex?" Kaiko asked.

Max turned several shades of red in quick succession,"Well, I guess so. I really wouldn't know."

Kaiko blushed as well while the other two pilots giggled. The doctor was going crazy over his instruments as gigabytes of information was struggling to be processed.

Rick looked at his fellow male pilot,"So, how did you do it?"

"I was just thinking about everything i needed to do today. And then I thought about just getting up and walking over to the other couch when the doc wasn't looking. I thought it would be funny to see him go nuts until he looked at the video. The next thing I knew I was lying over here, feeling all tingly."

Clarissa started giggling again.

Rick looked at her,"McFee, would you like to share with the group?"

She suppressed her giggles and said,"I was just thinking you could call the effect a jump-gasm." She started giggling freely again and was soon followed by all the other pilots.

Dr. Lang walked over a moment later and frowned at the officers who were laughing like school kids. He cleared his throat,"Would you care to return to the task at hand."

Rick leaned back,"Sorry doc, we were discussing the effects on the pilot."

"Well, yes. That's what I came over here to find out about." He turned to Max,"So, Ensign Sterling. What did it feel like?"

"It was a series of really bright flashes. Multiple colors, but mainly really bright. There was a sound, but I really can't describe it."

The doctor pressed a button and the short reverberation played from the room speakers."Is this the sound?"

"Sort of, but it was more layered and seemed to be coming from everything, even me."

Lang noted this and then looked up,"Was that all?"

"No, sir. When I finished I felt all tingly and euphoric."

Rick spoke up,"The girls equated the experience to sex. Clarissa even suggested calling the physical aftereffect a jump-gasm."

Both the girls and Lang broke into giggles.

"Yes Lieutenant, I can see why you were laughing. But I still need to get one last piece of information. Ensign, what were you visualizing when you jumped?"

"I was thinking about how funny it would be to see you scurrying around if I just walked over to this couch while you weren't looking."

The doctor grinned as he made notes,"Yes, I could see how that would be humorous. I'm so glad that you actually managed to jump though. This may be the first step to teaching others to jump. And the readings we got from your jump make me believe that we can amplify the effect to encompass a veritech. It may even be possible to jump the entire ship."

He finally stopped babbling as the sound from the earlier jump was repeated by two more simultaneous jumps. The two female members of the squadron vanished from their couches. Clarissa reappeared on the couch opposite her while Kaiko materialized curled up to Max.

"Let your mind wander, did you?" Clarissa asked.

Kaiko jumped and would have fallen to the floor had Max not caught her.

She blushed again,"Sorry, I was trying to repeat your lucky accident and my mind suddenly shifted to your couch in mid walk."

Lang was going crazy again as he cross-referenced the new data with that gathered earlier. He looked up after a moment,"Lieutenant Hunter, what are you waiting for?" Rick blinked for a moment, then realized what the doctor was talking about. He imagined himself moving across the room, but at the last moment other thoughts intruded. He vanished and did not reappear anywhere in the compartment.

ooo000OOO000ooo

The klaxon sounded all over the ship, followed by a voice,"Lieutenant Rick Hunter, please call Doctor Lang. All personnel, please report any information on the whereabouts of Lieutenant Rick Hunter."

Lisa was not as worried as she might have been if Rick had not appeared right in front of her station. He was currently looking a little sheepish as the alarm blared. The captain reached down to flip a switch which killed the alarm. He then picked up his phone and punched a code.

He waited for an answer,"Yes Doctor. I have him right here."

He paused while the scientist spoke,"I see." Pause. "Yes, that is impressive." Pause. "I'll send him down." Pause. "I'll expect a promising report." Pause. "Later than, Doctor." Hang up.

He looked at the wayward pilot,"Let me congratulate you on a successful jump, Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir."

"Now if you don't mind, Dr. Lang would like to have you back in the lab."

"Yes, sir." He looked at Lisa,"See you later." Rick closed his eyes and vanished.

ooo000OOO000ooo

That night Lisa was waiting for Rick in her quarters, having prepared dinner for the two of them. She heard the same strange noise that had accompanied both of Rick's prior jumps.

He looked a little dazed, so she moved over to him to steady him,"Are you Okay?"

"Yeah. The jump-gasm gets more manageable as you practice."

"Jump-Gasm?"

"Clarissa suggested the name after Max described his first time jump."

"It's kinda cute. But you said it gets more manageable?"

He straightened and wrapped his arms around her,"Sure, but the doc wants us to practice as much as possible to see if it can be overcome. We can't have combat pilots severally disoriented, even if they can gain the advantage of a perfect kill shot."

"I can see the need for such data, but does that mean you are going to be hopping all over the place?"

"Just whenever I go someplace alone. Until you can do this as well it would be slightly awkward to have me popping to the destination and making you walk the whole way."

"Are you sure anyone can do it?"

"I don't know about anyone, but people on the ship who can learn the equations can manage it. But it does take an ability to focus on your destination."

"Do you have the equations?"

He reached into the inside pocket of his uniform jacket and extracted a disk."Here's the copy that I used."

"Cool. I'll take a look after dinner."

With that they dished up the meal and enjoyed.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"All pilots, man your veritechs. All pilots, man your veritechs. This is not a drill. Operation Gauntlet will commence in fifteen minutes."

Vermilion Squadron appeared in their locker room within a second of each other. They were no longer affected by the effects of jump-gasm, due to their repeated use of the technique over the last twenty hours. Now they had to be sure not to jump while in their planes until the techs got the amplifiers installed. If the doc was right the new systems would allow a pilot to jump a veritech like it was an extension of their own body.

As the pilots changed into their flight suits Casandra asked,"So why are we the only ones actually under power for the start of this mission?"

Rick zipped his suit closed and replied,"Because were equipped with the heavier load out. So we will run interference. We start broadcasting on all the sensor channels and fly around so the enemy can't just shoot at the center of the jamming field. Also if any pods come into range we should be able to give them a run for their money. If we run into anything bigger we let the main gun handle it. And we are also running forward scout. Since the sensors will be running jamming we will need to report if there are any ships out in front."

Casandra grabbed her helmet off the rack,"But why is everyone else running silent behind the ship?"

"Because trying to launch them within the ice would be more dangerous. And if we need them they will be there. Otherwise they ride in the wake of the ship and we slip right through."

Kaiko decided to put in her two cents now,"And if we all throw out jamming the enemy will defiantly know where to concentrate their net. The captain is hoping that we can cause as few enemy arrays as possible to enter the jamming area, so they may not realize they are being jammed."

"Okay, I just feel like we're getting to play the worm on the sharp end of the hook."

Max spoke up now,"Um, that's because we are. If it goes pear shaped then we are going to get shot at."

"Man, did you have to point that part out?"

All of them turned to face the center of the room,"Okay people," Rick said,"We are out in seven. Let's go."

They all nodded and vanished.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Vermilion lead, SDF-1. Report." Lisa's voice came over the radio.

"SDF-1, Vermilion lead. Just lots of ice. Haven't seen so much as a pod yet, but the field is pretty heavy out ahead. Permission to take Vermilion out ahead about two hundred clicks to have a look past the wall."

"Permission granted. Be careful Rick."

"We will Lisa. Vermilion out."

As the signal was cut Kaiko came over the inter-plane link,"That's so sweet."

"Can it Kaiko, we need to form up and see if the enemy is hiding out there."

The four veritechs pulled into a lose formation as they drifted and jinked through the ice field. After they cleared the main formation, the field thinned again and they found themselves looking at a large, green, torpedo shaped ship moving to punch through in the opposite direction.

It was one of the smallest class of ship they had cataloged, called a scout by the crew. As it began approaching the wall it accelerated even harder. Rick looked at his instruments and found a mass of noise coming from the enemy ship. 'Why would they be jamming too?' He asked himself. The answer came in the form of another ship pushing through the wake of the scout.

Rick sent a quick coded signal to the other planes and they banked to return to the ship.

Five minutes latter there was a large explosion as the scout ship was torn apart by the ice flow it had hit while moving far too fast. They all spread out to avoid as much of the debris as possible. They jinked and swerved as small pebbles tinked off the underside of their hulls.

Finally they were within range of the ship's comm system. Rick keyed onto the correct frequency and spoke,"SDF-1, Vermilion lead. Column of enemy ships moving on reverse course one five zero km ahead. They are jamming and using ships as battering rams to get through the heavy parts. Recommend you change course twenty degrees starboard and thrity degrees up."

The ship was taking a shortest distance course through the fields, hoping to come out on the inside of the rings and pull a slingshot in close to the planet. Minor adjustments were of no consequence, and turning into the planet would just put them in acceleration for a few more seconds.

"Roger Vermilion lead. SDF-1 adjusting course and setting ghost pair to maintain original course. Good work. Resume normal position."

"Confirmed SDF-1."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"What is that idiot doing?" Bretai bellowed.

All of the ships of Kyron's squadron were out of position. Missing was the word.

"It appears that he is heading for the source of the jamming field." Exidore answered.

"I will have him shot for this. He has abandoned his post. Retransmit the recall order and redeploy the second division to intercept that loose cannon." He grimaced, "He may have cost us the micronian ship. I will have his entire genetic line purged if that happens."

"Yes my lord."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"That fool micronian is coming right at us. Just as I planned." Kyron boasted from the command bubble of his ship.

"Yes my Lord. But we have lost three ships so far trying to force our way through the ice fields." His assistant said.

"They are a small price to pay for the glory of destroying that pestilence. They shall be a blight on the glorious history of the Zentradi no longer."

"Of course my lord." The aide bowed.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"How is it going Commander Hayes?" Captain Gloval asked.

"Since we went to emission control conditions we are picking up the jamming field from the enemy fleet. As far as we can tell they are still advancing on the two ghosts."

"What are the estimated damages from the ice wall that's currently tearing the enemy apart?"

Vanessa tapped a few keys on her console before reporting,"We seem to be steering into a different current, it should disperse the worst part of the field and help us avoid detection, sir."

"Very well, maintain course. Use short range burst transmission to instruct Vermilion squadron to scout ahead. Tell them to try to keep their signatures as small as possible."

"Aye, sir."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Lord Kyron, the fleet has broken through the ice wall. The lead ship is reporting no contact with the enemy ship."

"What! how is that possible?"

"It appears that they deployed two autonomous drones with heavy sensor packages. They must have changed course and went to low emissions."

"Find them. It can't be possible to hide a battleship."

"Sir. They could be anywhere."

"Launch all the pods and go to full power on the sensors. Bring the ships thirty degrees to port and prepare to fire all reflex cannons."

ooo000OOO000ooo

In orbit around the planet Saturn there is a massive field of ice surrounding the entire planet. While there are thin spots there is only one real gap.

In May 2009 a small, relatively speaking, section, about fifty kilometers across at the widest point, exploded. The primary substance that makes up the rings is water ice. There are several trace elements including carbon, free hydrogen and oxygen, and several metals. When hit with enough energy water will separate into it's component elements. This takes up a much greater space and so causes a mild expansion until it begins to cool on the edges. This caused the still forming gases to come under pressure and in the presence of a spark, or in this case a dozen particle cannons, to react with each other explosively.

The result of this was nine utterly destroyed Zentradi battle cruisers, two that were damaged beyond repair, and one that limped away while venting atmosphere from holes to big for the automatic sealing systems to handle. The few pods that had launched before the explosion were crushed when the shock wave sent them flying into large chunks of ice behind the formation.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Sir, we should be coming out of the outer ring any moment now." Lisa reported.

The ice had been thinning for the last five minutes and was now almost completely gone.

"Thank you. Prepare to bring the veritechs back on board and inform damage control teams to begin repairs on the outer hull."

Sammy and Kim at the back of the room went to work coordinating the inspection and patching of the ship. Lisa began organizing the squadrons into landing orders. Within fifteen minutes all the fighters were on board and the preliminary repair estimates were in.

Lisa sent the summaries to the Captain's terminal and spoke,"Sir we managed to suffer only minor impact damage to both the planes and the ship. The maintenance crews are estimating ten hours to get the veritechs fixed, but the damage teams say that we should be able to go again in five hours."

"Excellent. We seem to have suffered less damage than we feared. Have the damage control teams give the maintenance crews a hand after they finish with the hull. Let's see if we can give everyone at least four hours off before the next insertion."

"Aye sir."

ooo000OOO000ooo

The pilots of Vermilion squadron popped into their locker room with harrowed expressions on their faces.

Kaiko moaned as she shouldered out of her flight suit,"Man, how long was that boss?"

Rick groaned as he stood back up after pealing the suit off his legs,"Six hours. Give or take an eternity. I just wanna hit the showers and sleep until we hit the next insertion point."

"I second that." The three subordinates said in unison.

With that they walked into the squadron shower room.

Five minutes later Rick called out,"I'm out. See you in ten hours."

Two minutes later Clarissa declared her exit as well.

After five more minutes of letting the hot water wash away his aches, Max turned. Intent on announcing his imminent departure he was a little surprised to find Kaiko standing a foot away. While Max was not exactly tall, she was short enough to have to look up into his eyes. Max thought to himself,'Isn't this just SO anime school scene?'

She spoke first,"Max. I never got a chance to apologize for putting you on the spot with the whole jump thing."

He blushed lightly,"Ah, it's okay. You couldn't have known. And it's not your fault that I haven't."

She smiled gently at him,"About that. You're cute and all, not to mention pretty smart. So why haven't you?"

"You may have noticed I have some confidence issues?" She nodded. "Well, they get worse when I try to talk to a women."

"You seem to do pretty well with us."

"That's different. Here we're just talking about work. But I just can't seem to actually ask a girl out."

"Then let me help out." She stepped forward,"Would you like to go get some dinner?"

Max gulped,"You m-mean a date?"

She touched his cheek,"Yeah. I don't mean anything else but dinner. Then we can see how well it goes."

He took a deep breath,"Yeah. I'd like that."

ooo000OOO000ooo

The 'night shift' was usually as boring as it got on the bridge of the SDF-1. True the enemy could attack at any time. But with how few the enemy attacks had been, the night shift had never been on duty when they showed up.

Ensign Daphne Windsor had been a struggling college student before joining the RDF. Despite the usual jokes about blonds, she could handle most of the school work thrown at her. That had been the problem, she was constantly bored out of her skull by the way most of her teachers insisted on droning through the class period just to assign homework she had already done.

Coming from an upper-middle class family she could afford to stay for as long as she liked, but finally decided to quiet after getting a bachelors in electronics. To put it mildly her parents were less than thrilled when she joined the service, but her father at least had been willing to admit that it was her life to screw up as she saw fit.

In the RDF she had found her home. The constant bustle of academy life could be many things, but boring was never one of them. She had found a unknown talent for firearms and her previous education put he in good standing when it came time for M.O.S. training.

She graduated third out of a class of 635. When she had been given her choice of assignments she had picked the battle fortress. She had accepted the only open position and saw it as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. After all, the SDF-1 was not the only deep range space vessel currently on the boards.

Then the aliens had attacked and she found what was supposed to be an exciting tour of the surrounding star systems turned out to be a long, boring ride home. So she had taken to reviewing the tech journals she had missed out on while at the academy.

She was running a diagnostic on the passive sensors with a text screen open just to the side when the first blip showed up. It was gone so fast that she had thought it just a diagnostic ghost, but then another came up. She canceled the running programs and rebooted the mains. The sensors showed all clear for a full five seconds. Then a small blip appeared, riding just barely within range on an erratic trajectory that would cause it to pass the SDF-1 from astern in roughly an hour. She repositioned one of the visual arrays to get a better look at it and was shocked at what she saw. She resolved the image as far as she could at this range and called the officer of the watch over.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"As you can see ma'am, the enemy vessel has suffered extensive damage. There is almost no indication of active sensors and there passives are probably sporting some pretty big holes as well. Odds are they haven't even picked us up yet and are just trying to get back to their staging area." Lieutenant Randal Petrovski reported.

Lisa had been mildly perturbed about being dragged out of her warm bed, but had to admit that this was a valid reason."Yes, I believe we may have an opportunity here. I will have to discuss it with the Captain." She said absent mindedly."Good work lieutenant, and you ensign."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Okay Vermilion, stay frosty. They may still have passives." Rick said as they approached the massive gash in the side of the enemy capital ship.

"Man, the things about twice the size of the Daedalus." Max observed over the channel.

"Yeah, and it's one of their mid-size cruisers. We've seen about thirty of them in the enemy fleet at one time." Casandra responded.

"Wonder what could have caused this much damage. Their supposed to be at least as tough as the SDF-1." Kaiko continued the conversation.

The four planes came into a guardian landing in what was once a hallway. It had been opened to space when the ship was damaged and sealed off about two-hundred meters away from the whole. Rick ran a quick low-power scan and moved to an open door. The compartment on the far side was completely depressurized but it could still be recognized as crew quarters.

"Max, see if you can get anything out of the computer."

"Aye, sir."

Rick took Kaiko with him to explore the rest of the corridor. Only three doors were on the hall and only one of them was closed. He walked to it and placed one hand against it while using the other to knock against it. The echo came at the right time but was more muffled then it should have been. The air on the other side was bleeding out slowly. Then there was a knock from the other side.

He jumped back and readied his cannon at the door as it opened, revealing a very dazed looking man the size of a battleoid. He staggered forward on the rush of air and grabbed hold of the veritech. Rick broke the hold and threw the huge alien toward the open end of the corridor.

"Watch out. Just let him go." He said as Kaiko did her best to meld with the wall.

He would never forget the look on the soldiers face as he realized it was totally hopeless. Then he was gone, his eyes loosing any sign of life.

Rick finished checking the room his would be assailant had emerged from, finding only a book and an alien rifle. He used the friction strap to tether the rifle to him and put the book in a storage compartment.

"Sir." Max said,"This is a total mess. Even if it were in English I don't think I could do much with it."

"Copy it to dead storage and we'll take it with us. Then get up here and open this blast door."

"On my way."

ooo000OOO000ooo

An hour later the squadron had worked it's way to a pressurized compartment. After closing the blast door behind them Max jacked into the computer system again.

Five minutes later he reported,"It seems to be a little cleaner here but the network is still a mess. I think I might be able to find something if we stick around here for a while."

"Just copy it. We need to keep moving." Rick said.

"Done." Max said five minutes later.

"Let's check out a few of these rooms. Keep on your toes."

They found more crew quarters, empty this time, and an armory. Half of the weapons were missing and the rest were scattered around as if a tornado had hit the room.

"Okay, sling your gun pods and grab the enemy weapons. We can use them or take them with us if we have to get out."

"Sir, are you sure we want to keep going. I mean we have the information we need, why don't we just head back?" Clarissa asked.

"Because we were told to see how many of the crew survived. The only crew we have found is the dead guy that went floating that way." He hooked a thumb of his mecha to point back the way they came. "We need to find anyone who is still alive and determine if they can see the ship or not."

"Sir, I think I found a ship's schematic. We appear to be just back of the forward auxiliary control." Max sent the image over with a line traced from their current position to a large room located in the center of the forward section.

"Do you think we can get what we need if we can take it?" Rick asked.

"If I can figure out the controls we may be able to vent the rest of the ship and pilot it along-side the SDF-1." Max said.

"I'll settle for this ship not being a threat. Let's move."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Yes, sir. I can confirm that all the sensors on this tub are off line. It looks like they got fried in a massive explosion kicked off by this ship's idiot commander."Rick reported to the Captain.

"You've done an excellent job Lieutenant. Can you get out of there with the information you have retrieved?" Gloval asked.

"Yes sir. We are only about a hundred meters from the nearest breach. But we have an opportunity here sir."

"Please explain."

"Vermilion three thinks he has found a way to depressurize the rest of the ship and take control of it from here."

"I think it would be better to let them report back in. It should cause enough confusion to let us slip through even easier. Get back here and take some time off before we enter the inner ring."

"Aye sir."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"My lord, Bretai. We are reading a ship coming this way." Exidore called from the bridge.

"Is it the enemy?"

"Unknown sir. We are not receiving an identifier signal, nor is it responding to hails."

"Launch a dozen pods to investigate the vessel. If it is the micronian ship we will launch all pods to try to take it."

"Yes my lord."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"KYRON you IDIOT!" Bretai bellowed at the shackled officer. "Not only did you not find the micronian ship, you managed to get your entire squadron blown up! Now I have to thin the rest of the fleet to cover your assigned sector. If that ship slips through you will pay for it." He looked at the guards, "Get this filth out of my sight."

"Yes sir." They came to attention and dragged the screaming former commander out of the bubble.

Exidore waited a short time for his commander to cool down before speaking,"My lord. How should we reorganize to compensate for this unexpected development?"

"Send the word to assume formation seventeen. That should cover the holes left by Kyron's incompetence while shifting to try to reacquire them. Move one tenth of the way around the planet to increase the chances of catching them on their way out."

"Right away, my lord"

"And prepare the necessary documents to send along with that upstart to inform Dolza of my recommendation for his punishment."

"Yes sir."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Sir, we have cleared the inner ring. There are no signs of the Zentradi out there." Lisa reported.

"Very well, bring all the fighters in and declare a three day holiday."

"Sir?"

"Sorry. After the repairs are done let as many people off for as long as we can spare them."

Lisa grinned,"Yes, sir. That will help with the tension level among the personnel."

"And your own, I'm sure Commander." The whole bridge crew giggled except Lisa who blushed deeply.

Claudia stretched and retracted her seat, taking a step away from her console,"It is so nice to know what to call the enemy now. But that history book they recovered does have a way of making me scared."

Gloval rubbed the light stubble that had started growing on his face during the long watch,"I feel that they may have the same tendency at the ancient Egyptians. The pharaohs never recorded their defeats, making it look as though they were an undefeated power. The Zentradi may have not been defeated before, but odds are that they have had their heads handed to them on occasion."

"How can you be so sure sir?" Lisa asked.

"There is always a bigger fish out there. I'm just worried about weather the enemy of my enemy is my friend." He stood and extracted his pipe."Now if you will excuse me, my legs are starting to cramp from spending too much time in that chair."

"Yes sir."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"So should we pick up where we left off?" Kaiko asked.

"Sure. If you want." Max said.

They linked arms and walked slowly through the park. After five minutes Max decided to ask,"So how is it going so far?"

"Despite the long interruption it's going pretty good. Dinner was great, and the movie wasn't bad. Next time I get to choose though."

"Okay, but I didn't think it was that bad."

She giggled,"Maybe for a regular girl. But as a pilot I would have liked some action."

Max used his free hand to palm his face,"I should have gone with my first thought. But I figured you would like a chick flick."

"Other girls would, and you would have been making first base by the half way point. Just consider the tastes of your date when you choose the movie."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, but it can wait until after you kiss me."

"Are you sure?" He asked as his cerebrum went into overdrive trying to remember everything he had ever heard about kissing.

"Come here." She instructed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted her lips firmly against his. At first he was in a state of shock, then he relaxed and took her in his arms. For five minutes she melted against him, letting him control the pace while keeping him from holding at any point too long.

When they broke she went limp in his grasp,"Man, where did you learn to kiss like that?"

"First time, promise."

"If you say so, but you picked up some pointers somewhere."She straightened up and took his arm again.

"Well, I do read a lot. I decided to try something I read about back in high school."

She blushed,"Oh, grok me."

"If you insist." He said, swooping down on her for another kiss. Her gentle encouragement had left him feeling bold, that and the fact that he knew they shared the same interest in books. What he got was a big breath of air with a brilliant burst of polychromatic light.

He looked around for a moment and spotted her leaning against a nearby lamp post. As soon as he spotted her she jumped again, appearing on the rim of a fountain. She raised her arms and started walking slowly around the edge.

He grinned and started visualizing. They commenced playing a game of jump tag all over the park.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"So, that's it for the equations. Do you think you have that?" Rick asked.

"My head hurts." Lisa responded.

"That passes. But yeah it should be about a grade two."

"Grade three, bordering on a four. You said you went flying after each class?"

"You pushed yourself harder than the doc pushed us. I tried to warn you to take a break an hour ago."

"I know. Next time just drag me away from the terminal."

"Well, the next step is to try visualizing the jump. So i guess you could say that you're going to drag yourself away."

She rubbed her temple."So what do I have to do?"

"Clear your head and imagine yourself walking over and laying on the couch." As soon as he finished speaking she vanished. His head snapped around and he was relieved to see her lying on the couch.

She moaned,"Now I see why you call it a jumpgasm. That is an interesting way to cure a headache."

"Glad to see you're feeling better." He said as he sat on the couch next to her."It gets better the more you use it. But the first half dozen are pretty bad."

"Can we practice some more?"

Just as he was about to answer there was a chime from the door. She sat up and said,"Come in."

Max appeared before the door, a huge grin on his face. To his right appeared Clarissa and to his left Kaiko, who snaked her arm around Max's.

"Sorry to bother you sir's." He said a bit nervously."But we were wondering if the Lieutenant would like to join us for some jump practice?"

Rick grinned and looked at Lisa,"Does that answer your question?"

"What do you have in mind Ensign?"

"Ma'am. We've been, um, sorta playing jump tag."

Lisa could not imagine a grown man blushing that particular shade of red for any reason. She looked at her love,"Sounds fun."

The three junior officers broke into giddy grins and Clarissa asked,"Does that mean the Commander will be joining us?"

Lisa responded by teleporting from her reclined position to directly in front of the group. "I think we should definitely set some boundaries. This is a big ship."

Rick popped up next to her,"I think we can agree to keep it limited to the main park. That's open enough to allow us to spot each other and still provides cover."

Lisa smiled,"Agreed. And one more thing, we are off duty, so rank has nothing to do with it."

Clarissa grinned at this,"In that case." She reached out and tapped Lisa,"You're it." She disappeared, followed quickly by the other two.

"Why that little,"She started as Rick laughed,"Oh yeah."She tackled him."Now it's your turn, honey." She vanished.

Rick was still laughing when he locked the door and vanished, chasing up to the civilian level.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Perhaps, Lieutenant Commander, you can explain to me why four of my best pilots and my second in command were picked up by the MPs." The Captain looked like he could spit nails, obviously he had been awakened from a well deserved sleep.

"Sir, I take full responsibility. We were undergoing boson jumping practice when a minor misunderstanding escalated very quickly." Lisa said quickly.

"Continue, please."

She could swear the corner of his mouth was twitching, but weather it was in anger or amusement was unclear."The Ensigns had been practicing in the park and had come to ask the Lieutenant to join them. As I had just finished my first jump I decided to join them."

"So you were boson jumping around the park for practice, in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, sir. After about half an hour Ensign Sterling was, um, 'It', sir. And he and Ensign McFee had an accidental encounter. He inadvertently touched her in an inappropriate way and was attempting to apologize when she took a swing at him. He managed to dodge and jumped away." Lisa was very red from having to explain a school yard tussle between grown officers.

"So let me get this straight. You were playing jump tag when Sterling accidentally groped McFee and she reacted without thinking. Is that about right?"

"Yes sir. She then went to chasing him and eventually was able to catch him. They were struggling when we showed up and in the process of trying to separate them we got tangled up. That's how the MPs found us."

Gloval could no longer help himself. He started laughing. The five personnel on the other side of his desk stood in shock to see their commanding offices almost roll out of his chair. He finally recovered enough to say,"I can see how this might appear to the Military Police, but just so long as it is over then I think we can let it go as a learning experience."

He turned stern faced to Max,"Sterling, you will apologize to your teammate and try to be more careful in the future." Next to Clarissa,"McFee, you will apologize to Sterling and try to realize that sometimes accidents do happen. Dismissed."

They all came to attention and walked out of the room.

Once outside the redhead turned to Max and said,"Sorry about this, I do know it was an accident. I just know how you and Kaiko have been getting on and I overreacted."

"It's okay, I'm sure I would have reacted the same in that kind of situation." He replied.

Lisa chose this moment to break in,"I think that we settled it on the way over here. So why don't you go get a drink and get some rest. After all that jumping I think I need a good shower and some time alone with my man. Later." She turned and vanished.

Rick gave his goodbyes and then vanished as well. Leaving the three Ensigns to figure where they were going.

ooo000OOO000ooo

It had been seventeen hours since the SDF-1 had broken through the inner ice ring of Saturn. The progress had restored the spirit of that had bled away due to the long stretches of getting through the rings. The long break had finally given everyone a chance to rest, refreshing their energy levels to levels in excess of any previous point.

Lisa had put the new found energy and enthusiasm to good use planning for the next leg of their journey. "Sir, I think we should head for Mars directly from here. The abandoned base may have supplies that we can use."

She did not tell him the real reason for the course change because she had not yet admitted it to herself. She loved Rick with most of her heart, but there was still a part that could not let go of Karl. The intellectual side of her knew that no one could have survived all this time, but her heart refused to listen to reason.

"Won't that require an almost immediate turn away from Saturn and a massive amount of thrust?" The captain observed.

"Yes, sir."Roy said,"We will have to accelerate until we exit the rings."

"What about the dangers of high velocity collisions?"

Lisa took this part,"We go to rapid fire on the main gun as soon as we enter the ice field. This should serve the dual purpose of clearing any threats from our path while also making it impossible to follow us. We set the destination field to be a cylinder around the ship. We estimate that this will produce an almost solid wall around us."

"What about being detected by the Zentradi?"

"We let them find us. If they try to chase us then they hit the wall, or if they get out in front, that's what the the main gun is for." Roy said.

"What about power? Using the main gun takes a huge amount of energy."

"We have found that using the main gun makes the boson transfer interface more efficient. I have been dying for an opportunity to try this."Doctor Lang was getting excited."We should be able to project exactly what the effects of continuous use should be."

The captain turned to Lisa,"Decided to gang up on me?"

"Not exactly sir. We just happened to agree that this is a good plan."

The Captain threw up his hands,"Okay, make it so."

ooo000OOO000ooo

Henry Gloval had expected the trip out of the rings to be over in no more than fifteen minutes. The reflex furnace should have gone into emergency shutdown after ten minutes of this pace. He was sure the enemy would be on them in five. Neither had happened after over an hour of blasting their way through the ice.

The reactor had been taken down to normal operational levels by the time it should have been scramming. Then engineering had reported that the furnace was being taken down again. It was currently running at fifty percent just to keep from overloading the capacitors.

"We are about to clear the inner ring sir" Lisa called from her station.

"Launch a probe to get a peek of the other side."

"Aye sir." The report came through a moment later,"Sir, we are picking up three scout class ships in our direct path. They appear to be facing away from us."

"It's time for a blitzkrieg. Bring the engines to ten percent above maximum and launch the fighters from the aft bays."

"Yes sir." All five stations called back.

Lisa hit the 'ship wide' switch,"All pilots man your veritechs. This is not a drill. Prepare to execute screening operations against Zentradi forces."

ooo000OOO000ooo

The planes started launching the moment the orders came through, some of the pilots just waiting for the call.

Roy Fokker came over the radio,"Okay boys, you heard the lady. We need to keep the enemy off our flanks while the ship clears the gap. Good hunting."

The squadrons formed up and trailed the SDF-1 as it cleared the last remnant of the ice. The next shot caught the three Zentradi ships by surprise and eliminated one before they knew what hit them. The other two went to full power on their engines to get out of the line of fire. The Earth vessel screamed between them on it's run away course into the outer ring.

As the shock wore off, the Zentradi commanders launched pods as fast as they could to go after the escaping enemy. They were met by the full strength of the veritech screen. As the pods would launch they would find themselves the target of a full wing of veritechs each. The rest hung back and watched for the next wave. As they finished off their targets they took a pass at the launch ports and resumed their positions in the waiting committee.

Finally the enemy got organized and launched hundreds of pods at once. Roy came over the general freq,"Okay, enough of this small groups. Two minutes until the ship hits the next wall. Get 'em."

The carefully organized flights quickly dissolved into two plane fur balls as pairs of pilots started taking on dozens of pods. Pods exploded in scores as veritechs were taken out in ones and twos.

"Vermilion One, Vermilion Three." Kaiko came over the squadron freq,"I'm hit. Main thrusters off line. I'm bugging out."

"Vermilion Three, One. Roger."Rick responded,"Four, cover her Max."

"Four, roger." The pair peeled off and headed for the landing bays, Three sluggishly turning on auxiliary maneuvering jets.

"SDF-1, Vermilion lead. Three and four heading in, three no longer combat effective." Rick transmitted over the command freq.

"Confirmed Vermilion, integrate with Skull and hold them off for another thirty."

"Roger control."

Thirty seconds later the veritechs, down by six, turned and started the dangerous process of heading back to base. The pods quickly regrouped and pursued, but were unprepared for the missiles that had been dropped by the retreating planes. The unspent munitions had been released on a time delayed fuse to activate their proximity fuses. Individual pods started popping as the missiles detonated. This was enough of a shock to allow the veritech squadrons to land just before the ship shot into the newly created ice tunnel.

The two capital ships tried to pursue but found the way blocked by a reflex mine that cut them off as they were reporting the vector of the target.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"My lord. We have a partial vector on the micronian vessel." Exidore relayed the information.

"Why is it partial?"

"It appears patrol seventeen was destroyed before they could finish the transmission."

"Enough. It looks like the enemy has decided to stop hiding. Order the fleet to fold to their probable exit point at the soonest possible moment."

"Yes, my lord."

"You're a slippery one." He said to his opponent."If only you were Zentradi, then I wouldn't have to kill you."

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Sir, I think the enemy knows where we are going. So what's the next move?" Lisa asked.

"We are going to use brute force to blast through the last wall. We will see the majority of the Zentradi fleet as we exit. To deal with them we are going to fire three reflex warheads in a triangular pattern to screen our passage. We will be moving so fast that both sides will only get one shot."

"What if the enemy shoots first?"

"They won't."Gloval said with more conviction than he felt."Everything they have done so far suggests that they want the ship intact. I am counting on the fact that we have not become more trouble than we are worth to them."

"I hope you're right sir."

"At least we still have hope."

ooo000OOO000ooo

There was a massive bubbling on the edge of the ring of Saturn. Waiting a short distance from that anomaly were three dozen Zentradi capitol ships with thousands of pods deployed into a dispersed pattern. The arrangement was intended to keep the fleet from taking too many losses from any single attack.

What they hadn't factored in was their target's will to escape. As the disturbance opened a huge swarm of missiles exited, followed a half second later by the ship. Three of those missiles were special, the highest yield reality flux warheads that the ship boasted. When the two sub critical masses of protoculture were combined and activated, reality itself would convulse in a massive release of energy. The only thing that humanity had seen to rival the power of such warheads was a nuclear blast.

As the three reflex missiles reached their destination, they detonated, taking with them twenty of the Zentradi ships and leaving half the pods either vaporized or disabled. The remaining ships hung their in stunned inaction as the SDF-1 shot toward them and it's freedom.

Bretai and Exidore went to work trying to put their gaping net back together in a vain attempt to accomplish the mission.

The sixteen remaining ships sluggishly began moving to intercept the fleeing foe, but differences in velocity gave the micronian vessel an excellent chance of escaping.

Suddenly one of the Zentradi commanders opened up with his main cannon, missing the SDF-1 due to failure to lead and striking a friendly ship dead center. The resulting explosion damaged another ship's maneuvering capability and sent shrapnel flying into three more.

"Attention all captains,"Bretai's voice came over the radio,"Do not use primary weapons. That ship is to be captured, not destroyed."

The distance was continuing to open between the jumbled mass of ships and the lone vessel, with no sign of slowing. Finally Bretai was forced to concede that his opponent had gotten the better of him again. "All ships, break off pursuit. Form the squadron and prepare for fold."

He called over a general transmission freq,"This round goes to you micronian, but the game is far from over."

ooo000OOO000ooo

At last Chapter six. Sorry for the long wait, but it should get better now.

Thanks to my wife for proofing this for me.

P. S. New fic coming soon.


	7. Chapter 7: Boson Jumping and the Meltrad

SDF Nadesco Chapter 7: Boson Jumping and the Meltradi

The first week following the Battle of Saturn was relatively uneventful for the crew of the SDF-1. Life continued as normal for the civilians while more of them entered the academy to join the fighting men and women of the ship. The military personnel found their lives filled with drills and patrols, doing their best to keep their skills sharp despite the enemy staying a considerable distance behind.

In the Zentradi fleet things were not going so well. Bretai was recalled to explain his failure around the ringed planet. Before leaving he briefed Azonia, the commander of a Meltradi battle group, about the unpredictable nature of her prey. She took this under advisement and reviewed the footage of the campaign to recover Zor's lost ship so far.

As this week came to a close something was about to happen that would make her reconsider her decision to hang back and wait for reinforcements returning with Bretai.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Vermilion squadron appeared in the class room for the hundredth time, ready for a new test the doctor wanted.

As they took their seats he began,"Today we will be testing the veritech jump system. Not a drive per-say,"He brought a slide of the system,"but a way of extending the boson generated field to encompass the entire plane."

"As we are unsure of the effects on the pilot, it is recommended that you preform the tests at a relative velocity of zero to the ship. Short hops at first, then we will evaluate the effects and see if longer range experiments are warranted."

"Doc,"Rick said,"It looks like some of the standard neural control circuits have been replaced. How should that effect normal handling?"

"We expect either no effect or a minimal improvement. But the boson transfer medium was required for the system to work. I'm just glad we were able to harvest it from the fold anomaly without any signs of degradation."

"So this is the stuff that is generating the boson field around the ship in the first place?" Kaiko asked.

"Yes, It is. It continues to produce the particles even after separated from the main mass, so their should be no trouble with jumping." All the pilots nodded and Lang continued,"If their are no other questions, then please begin the test."

The pilots vanished from their chairs.

ooo000OOO000ooo

As the planes launched Rick called over the team freq,"Vertical Diamond, five kilometers port, let's go." The fighters entered the formation with Hunter on the bottom to keep an eye on the rest. When they had matched speed with the battle-fortress he signaled to begin testing. A moment later Clarissa disappeared, popping back into existence almost exactly one kilometer forward of her previous position.

"Whoa, I thought the regular jumpgasm was bad." Her voice drifted over the radio.

Doctor Lang called back,"I'm reading a massive increase in dopamine levels. You should be feeling pretty good right about now Lieutenant."

The entire squadron had gotten a one rank promotion for their actions during the battles around Saturn. Since then they had just been enjoying some rest for a job well done. "Doctor,"Clarissa replied,"This would feel really good if I were in bed and not having to keep track of everything."

"I can see how the effect would be distracting. Hopefully the effect will subside with continued use, but let's continue the testing schedule."

Rick signaled for Keiko to jump, followed by Max, and finally himself. They all managed to end up within a dozen meters of their intended destination, but the sensation was just as bad as advertised. The disorientation lasted an average of seven seconds, followed by a sense of euphoria that could be shaken off easily.

With the first round of tests over and the science team busy compiling the data, they decided to move on to battleoid testing. Changing modes, they maintained separation and drew the training guns they had been issued. The weapons were magnified versions of laser tag rifles used in children's games, but redesigned to mimic the recoil of a standard gun pod.

Then the chase was on as they all jumped at once. Doctor Lang had liked the idea of jump tag, suggesting it as a means of reducing the after effects of jumping for people new to the experience. The pilots were sluggish at first, having to shake off the disorientation with each jump. But as the exercise continued they became accustomed to the feeling and started shooting at each other between the jumps. Keiko was the first one to take a hit, immobilizing her shooting arm. She switched hands and fired back at Clarissa, who had jumped away while she was still shooting. The next hit came from the back and disabled her left leg. She had to cut her main engines and use thrusters to counter the spin that was pushing her into the left console of her cockpit. If not for the hands free capability of the veritech she would never have stopped the nauseating motion. As it was she got the spin down to a point where the restraints of her seat were no longer cutting into her shoulder painfully. Then she lost power enteirally when four hits registered on her chest section.

The voice of her fellow female pilot came over the radio,"You okay in there?"

"Fine."Keiko answered."Thanks for letting me get the spin under control before blasting me again."

"Figured it would only be polite. Later, got two more to take out." The circuit cut with a click and Keiko pulled out a book to read while she waited for the end of the engagement.

Fifteen minutes later Clarissa was shut down and Rick hit the release on the simulated damage. His left arm unlocked as did the other three mecha floating around him. He signaled a rally and the battleoids teleported into a tight huddle.

"Okay people, we're done with today's exercises. Let's head for the barn." Rick said.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"By the Masters. How did they get a fold system that small?" Azonia had been watching the playback from the recon pod she had sent to keep tabs on the micronian vessel.

"Ma'am, I do not believe that they are using fold systems. None of the usual indicators are present." Her aide answered.

Azonia brought up the sensor readings of the observed exercise."Yes, I see what you mean. There are no gravitational fluctuations and the EM signature is all wrong."

"Somehow they have discovered a different way to travel faster than light. This is most disturbing."

"I agree. With such capabilities they could easily out-maneuver even our best pilots. But why did Bretai never report such abilities."

"I am not sure ma'am. It is possible that he never had any sensor data to indicate the enemy had such devices."

"I think that it's time we see what these micronians are truly capable of." Azonia started giving orders for the attack.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"Captain, indications of a fold within the enemy fleet."Vanessa called from her station."Readings show between three and five ships folding out."

"Set condition two, ready the fighters for an attack and get Doctor Lang on the line." Gloval said calmly.

A few seconds later Vanessa reported again,"Sir, it looks like those ships are defolding directly in front of us. We have separation, multiple signals. Looks like pods, sir."

"Launch the fighters and prepare to activate the pin point barrier." Gloval finished as the phone rang. He answered it and had a short conversation about Vermilion squadron. When he hung up he spoke to Lisa,"Launch Lieutenant Hunter's squadron with orders to intercept the enemy as far out as possible. Tell them to pop a few pods and then jump back. We need to scare the enemy."

"Aye, sir. Relaying orders now." Lisa wasn't enteirally happy about Rick being on the sharp end, but she knew this was his path when she got involved with him.

ooo000OOO000ooo

Four planes exited the SDF-1 and immediately vanished. They reappeared on the other side of the enemy pods and released four missiles each. The bulbous humanoid units they were firing on were a new sight, but the enemy was the enemy.

Four pods blossomed into small stars before they even knew what hit them. The rest scattered as the Meltradi pilots desperately searched for the attackers. The veritechs were already gone, having completed their mission and reported back to the ship.

They had been briefed to expect a more maneuverable enemy, but none of the pilots had believed it possible. They had the most responsive mecha in the whole Zentradi fleet with the best armaments and engines. If the enemy could fly circles around them from this range, they were well and truly screwed. Fortunately for the giant pilots, screwing was not in their vocabulary, but they all felt a deep genetic pang of fear.

The new enemy design was analyzed aboard the SDF-1 with nothing remarkable to report. They were a previously unseen unit type, with better capabilities than the clumsy pods. But they seemed to be much more resilient than the smaller units when it came to missile fire. The odd thing was that the enemy had slowed their advance while launching more units to bolster their forces.

Lisa called over the radio,"Okay pilots. The enemy is going to be coming in with numerical superiority. They should have to start their decel about now or they'll over shoot us. Prepare for close combat, guardian mode recommended."

"Vermilion squad."She said, switching freqs."Go out their and make them reconsider their course of action."

"Roger." The squadron answered. The four veritechs switched to battleoid mode and vanished.

Along the edges of of the enemy formation explosions were going off at random as they were harassed by an enemy too nimble to be effectively countered. The human mecha were flashing into existence just long enough to rip off a controlled bust into the flanks of one of the bulging suites. Then they vanish, just to reappear beside other Zentradi and repeat the effect.

As the enemy started getting wise to this tactic they started redeploying into small huddles with their backs to each other, and the veritechs flashed out for almost a minute.

When they came back the effect was even more devastating. A Vermilion squad fighter would appear in the center of a formation, drop four missiles on delayed fuses and flash out again. The improvised mines would detonate two seconds later, killing or disabeling entire flights in one hit.

Finally the recall was given, bringing a mere fifty Meltradi mecha back to their host ships before said ships folded out.

ooo000OOO000ooo

"I think this represents a successful test of the boson jumping system." Henry Glovol said, raising his glass.

"I would be forced to agree, sir." Lang answered. "The system has made the fighters almost impossible to hit, while giving them perfect kill shots. I believe we can have the rest of the squadron upgraded before we reach Mars."

"What about training the personnel to use them? I imagine that is going to be a rocky road at best."

"Yes, Captain. But it should be possible to teach most of the pilots to make the jumps, giving us a decided edge."

Glovol sat in thought for a moment,"I don't think it will be quiet that easy, but we should end up with a good number of additional pilots with these abilities." He sipped his drink,"Now, how long will it take you to implement the ship's jumping system?"

"Captain, that may take even longer than we really have before we reach Earth. The many modifications that have to be made will change the entire energy landscape of the ship. And then we have to find a pilot who can do it."

"Shouldn't anyone who can jump be able to do it?"

"Theoretically yes. But in practice we have found that the neurochemical reaction is proportional to the mas being jumped. Dopamine in particular may become toxic for anyone who attempts the jump. This reaction is reduced with each successive jump, but the first time may be enough disqualify a person for some time. At that point we are left with a very finite number of jumps possible."

"I see." Glovol said."I want to see if their is any way to make the process safer, but we may find this necessary to do before this is all over."

"I'll look into it."

ooo000OOO000ooo

There's chapter 7. Hope you enjoy it.

Here's a switch. Thanks to Birga for reviewing this for me.


End file.
